A Place to Call Home
by AlexMontgomery
Summary: Being a cyborg or a mage was never a good thing in Haylee's world, being both was practically a death sentence. When she's forcibly ripped from her world, Haylee is sent to Yuko's, with nothing to go back to she makes her wish in exchange for her name. Now she travels with her new companions. But ugly, twisted secrets have a way of emerging from the darkness. FaiOC
1. Chapter One

**Authors Note: **So… I wrote a fanfic like this years ago, but it was mediocre. I felt like trying it again, and decided to just rewrite the whole damn thing. Hope it's better than what I originally had.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles, xxxHolic, or anything associated with CLAMP. I only own Haylee, couple of other characters, and plot points.

* * *

**Chapter One  
****Inevitability**

The streets of New London were as busy as ever. It was natural, being one of the biggest cities in the UK. Hovers whizzed by, servant-droids did their owners chores, children played virtual football.

The game was interrupted when a sixteen-year-old girl tore through their field, followed suite by a group of slightly older boys. She hurried into a crowed shop. The boy's followed suite, and the girl was able to sneak out.

Haylee put her hood up in an attempt to conceal herself, she knew it was only a matter of time before they found her again, however. They knew what she looked like, and her purple hoodie stood out pretty easily.

She soon found herself on a hover-bus. She didn't know where she was headed, but, Haylee didn't quite care. Seated by the window, Haylee pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them close. It would be dark soon, so odds were, she would need to find a bench to sleep on.

'_Could've gone to school,' _Haylee thought ruefully. _'Could've used an education to get out of the streets…'_

The person on beside her got up, revealing the advertisement on the seat; _'Magic or Ruin. You Decide.'_ It prompted Haylee to pull her hood further over her purple eyes. The eyes that marked her as an abomination, a mutant, and outcast. Two things were considered lower than low in this world; mages, and cyborgs. To be one was hard enough, but both, some have been known to take their lives.

It was the reason those boys were after her. They were like Haylee, parentless, doing whatever they could to get by. Trying to find a place in the world. But because of Haylee's abnormality, they thought they'd get their kicks out of beating the crap out of her.

With her hands in her front pocket Haylee got off the hover-bus. She walked to a food stand and showed the droid her ration tag. It was a simple, keychain with a barcode on it's surface. "Thank you for your patients," the droid said handing her five blue-green crackers. "You will need to renew your tag for more rations."

"I know…" Haylee's voice trailed off.

Haylee continued along her way. Supposively the ration crackers were supposed to fill the stomach of a full grown man, which was why they were mostly given to the homeless like her. But, Haylee finished them faster than she anticipated, but her stomach still yearned for more. Hunger wasn't new to her, though. As cliché as it was, Haylee sat herself into an alleyway. With her knees close to her chest, she felt like she was about to doze off.

"Are you ready?" she heard.

Haylee's eyes snapped open. Her heart pounded in her chest. She could have sworn she heard something, someone. "Well, yes or no, you don't really have a choice in the matter," she heard again.

A young man in his early twenties walked up to her. He was handsome, Haylee had to give him that. Black hair, a slender jaw line, and orange-yellow. He was dressed in a brown biker jacket, a black shirt, tight jeans and black biker boots. Handsome and undoubtedly out of her league. "Ready for what?" Haylee asked, getting back onto her feet.

"Let's call it…" the man thought for a moment. Suddenly he threw his arm forward. "Destiny."

Haylee was tossed back. Her back slammed into the wall. She was suddenly unable to move, she felt like she was caught in a current, being pulled along with it. Her head turned to her right. She was sinking into the wall as though it were water. "What's happening?!" she screamed.

"You know," the man said, turning his back to her. He place his hands in the pockets of his jacket. "I don't believe I owe you an explanation."

"What are you talking about, of course you do!"

The man didn't reply. He seemed ignorant of Haylee's screams as she was completely pulled into the wall.

The man's gaze went from the sky, to the ground. "This better be worth it," he murmured.

* * *

Haylee was sure this is what death was like. Though, it didn't feel anything like her childhood accident. She was terrified, unable to describe where she was. So many colors whizzed around her. It was beautiful, but what was it? What had that man done to her?

* * *

The oriental building looked a bit out of place in the large, rain filled city. Four people stood outside. Up front, a tall woman with long black hair. She was dressed in a black dress decorated with crescent moons, and a complex headdress. Behind her, two teenagers, a boy and girl stood beside two little girls in pink and blue.

In front of the four were two young teenagers, a boy and a girl. The girl, a pale, slender child, was out cold in the boys arms. Her hair was brown with a tint of red, giving it a slight rust color. The boy was slightly tan, with brown hair, and matching eyes. He was dressed in a green cloak over a black muscle shirt, ivory slacks, and black boots.

The boy looked up at the woman in front of him with pleading eyes after he begged her to help save the girl in his arms. "This child's name is Sakura, you say?" the woman, Yuko asked him.

"Yes."

"And yours?"

"It's Syaoran."

Yuko walked up to the two, and knelt down. She placed a hand over Sakura's forehead, a light glow emitted the tips of Yuko's fingers. "This child has lost something precious to her," Yuko said gently. "That something was scattered across various worlds. If she continues like this, this child will die."

Trembling, Syaoran held Sakura closer to him, as though it would do something to help her. She couldn't die. Not like this.

"Watanuki," Yuko stood up. Her attention turned to the black haired boy with glasses.

"Y-Yes?" he stuttered.

"Go to the safe, there's something I need there."

Before he could say anything, Watanuki was lead back into the house by the little girls. "Do you want to help this child?" Yuko asked Syaoran.

"Yes," the boy said with conviction.

"There will be a price. Even so?

"If there's anything I can do, I'll do it!"

Yuko looked up at the dismal sky. The wind started to pick up as a knowing smirk played upon the witch's lips. "Here they come," she said simply.

Two whirls of wind appeared from both under head, and overhead. Their burdens were released, revealing two young men. One, a tall, tan man with black hair. He was dressed in black clothing, with a red head guard, and a silver sword in his hand. The second, a pale, blonde man dressed in a complex, but beautiful white coat. He carried a gold staff decorated with fluorite stones.

"Who the hell are you?" the black haired man demanded.

Both men exchanged quick glances. Their eyes met, red on blue. Yuko extended her hand forward to the man in black. "You first," she said simply.

"I'm Kurogane," the man in black said. His gaze turned to the tall buildings around them. "Where the hell are we?"

"Japan."

"I come from Japan!"

"A different one."

"I'm not getting any of this!" Kurogane growled.

His complain was left ignored. Yuko turned to look at the blonde. "And you?" she asked.

"I am a Celes Country wizard," the blonde said, giving the witch a respectful bow. "Fai D. Flowright."

The wind started to pick up again. "She's a little late," Yuko muttered.

The wind swirled and dripped, like paint from a brush. The drip lowered closer, and closer to the ground until it's burden was released. A girl fell to the ground. She had dark brown hair, that fell over her face as she landed on her knees. She had on a thick purple shirt, and a pair of blue jeans and a black glove on her left hand.

Haylee studied her surroundings. She saw the four at her side, the woman in front of her, and the girl behind her. Nothing looked familiar. Haylee wasn't sure if she should have been happy about that. She wasn't dead, but she had no idea what happened. "Where… Where am I?" she asked, getting onto her feet.

"A place where you can grant wishes at a proper, or high price," Fai explained.

"That is correct," Yuko confirmed. "Since you are all here, that means you want some sort of wish."

A wish? She really could have her wish granted? It sounded too good to be true. Actually, if what the blonde man said was true, it was. And all Haylee had, maybe, twenty pounds to her name. Maybe the witch took credit.

"I want to return to where I'm from," Kurogane said immediately.

"I want to never return to where I'm from," Fai said at the same time.

The man in black shot Fai a harsh glare. Day and night at it's finest. Yuko's red eyes turned to Haylee. Immediately she felt a little self conscious. Living on the streets Haylee probably looked as gross as she felt.

Still, what did she want?

Haylee thought back to the times she just spent running. Trying to keep her hide safe, trying to scrounge for food and money. All the years she spent fending for herself. Stealing food and clothes, tricking tourists, dumpster diving, and other things. Haylee could rarely sit back and relax. She barley knew the warmth of a soft bed.

She was an outcast. A freak of nature. An abomination. A mistake. So even if she had living family, Haylee wouldn't have a comfortable life. She had two strikes against her, she was the lowest of the low.

"I just want…" Haylee said, mauling over her words. This was going to sound sappy, and she knew it. "I just want a place to call home."

"That's a hard thing for you," Yuko said thoughtfully. "No. For all four of you. Those wishes you have, if you pay separately it won't be enough. But, if you four pay together it might barely be enough."

'_So it won't mater if I have twenty on me?' _Haylee couldn't help but think.

Haylee glanced down at the brown haired boy. His grip on the unconscious girl tightened to the point Haylee wondered if he was cutting off her blood circulation. "You all have the same wish," Yuko explained, she glanced at Syaoran, then to Kurogane, Fai, and Haylee. "Child, you want to go to different worlds to collect this girls memories. From a different world, you want to go back to your own. You want to go live in a world other than your own. And you want to find a new world.

"Your purposes are different, but the means are the same. You have different reason why you want to go to different worlds. Each one of your wishes, I can't grant them. But if the four of you give me your most valuable possession, then the four of you can go to different worlds."

Kurogane raised one hand. "What do I have to give you?"

"That sword," Yuko replied without missing a beat.

"What?!" he roared. He drew his sword back, as though to put more distance between it, and Yuko. "I'll never hand over my Ginryu!"

"Fine then," Yuko retorted. She jabbed Kurogane in the chest with her finger as she listed off what could happen to him otherwise. "In exchange, you can roam around looking like a cosplayer, violate weapon laws, get arrested by the police, and interviewed on TV."

All the while, Kurogane looked terribly confused by the unknown words and concepts Yuko used on him. Still, she wasn't finished. "I'm the only one in this world able to send you to another."

"Bullshit!" the ninja shot back.

"It's true," Fai pointed out, much to Kurogane's dismay.

"So," Yuko challenged, with a smirk of arrogance. "What are you going to do?"

Kurogane was clearly growling as he swiped the sword into it's sheath. He nearly shoved it into Yuko's face. "When this curse is gone, I will _definitely _return for it!" he declared.

A purple mist surrounded the blade. It left its, now, former owners hands, and hovered to the girl behind Yuko. She looked over her shoulder to her next victim. Namely, Fai. "Your price is that tattoo."

"Will this staff not do?" he asked, gesturing to the item in question.

"I said; it must be the thing most valuable to you," said Yuko.

Fai allowed this to sink in. He suddenly perked up with a false smile. "I guess I have no choice then," he said.

A complex marking suddenly seeped out from the back of Fai's coat. It looked like some kind of bird, Haylee realized. A phoenix? The mark hovered side, along side Kurogane's sword in the girls hands. The witch then turned to Haylee. "And what is that you value most?" she asked her.

Haylee swallowed. "I don't know…"

It was true. Haylee could never afford to value an _item_. Not if she wanted to survive. Leisurely things were never in the cards. The closest thing was her glove, _maybe_. But Haylee never had any qualms against replacing it if she needed to. "But you do have something of value," said Yuko. She looked straight at Haylee. "Your price is your name."

"Huh?" Haylee questioned. "My name? But that really doesn't seem like-"

"Much?" Yuko finished. "You would be surprised to know the power a name carries. Not only that, one values their identity amongst all else."

Haylee let Yuko's words sink in. Fair enough. If she didn't value an item, perhaps her name, or identity was the next best thing. "But how do I give up something like my name? It's… well my name. And what am I supposed to…?"

"Everything will take care of itself as soon as you give up your name. Your mind and body will provide you with a new name. Will you give it up?"

The brunette girl thought. It was a weird thought, giving up her name like that. She had been known as Haylee since birth, so going by something else. Still though, Haylee didn't have a place in New London anymore. Maybe she never did.

"I do," said Haylee.

She clutched both sides of her head. Pain pulsed through her head. She took in a few deep breaths, the pain subdued after a minute or two, but her head still hurt. A rolled up sheet of paper hovered beside the other payments.

Yuko turned to Syaoran. "And you?" she asked him. "What is the most important thing to you? Will you give it to me to go to another world?"

"Yes," Syaoran replied.

"Your payment has not yet been told and yet you will still give it to me?"

"Yes."

"I can only help you travel paths to different worlds. You must search for this child's memories by myself."

Syaoran kept the glare in his eyes. Amber eyes filled with a determined resolve. Yuko smiled, seeing this. The door to the shop behind them opened, the boy, Watanuki hurried back out, carrying a couple of egg shaped items. "There's more of you?" he asked, hurrying to his employers side.

Yuko took the white creature from him. It had long rabbit ears, with a red and gold earring clipped onto it's right ear. In between it's eyes was a red gem. "His name is Mokona Modoki," Yuko explained. "He will take you to different dimensions."

"You have another one," Kurogane said, gesturing to the black inverted Mokona. "I'll go with that one."

"That's only for communication. The only power this one has is to stay in communication with Mokona. See how useful? Mokona can take you to another dimension, but he can't control where you land. Your wish coming true is only luck. But there is no coincidences in this world. There is only inevitability. And your coming here was inevitable. Syaoran, your payment is… the relationship."

"What?" the boy looked up at her, confused.

"To you, the most important thing is your relationship with that girl," Yuko said, gesturing to Sakura. So I'll take it. Even if she gets all her memories back, you will not have the same relationship as before. If your going to use Mokona your relationship with her will disappear. Even if you were able to return her memories to her, the part about you will not return. That is your price. Still?"

"I'll go!" Syaoran said. His voice rising with each word. "I won't let Sakura die!"

A smile played on Yuko's lips. "Traveling through various worlds will be tougher than you think," the witch informed four would-be travelers. "There are many worlds. For example, all of you come from different worlds. You can tell by the clothing you wear. The worlds you came from are different.

"People that you know, people from your past worlds, people may have separate lives in different worlds. You may meet people in many different worlds. For those who were once nice to you in one world, you can't be certain they will be the same in another. There are other where language and common sense can't be understood. Living standards and rules are also different in different worlds. For some, there are worlds full of criminals, wars, and lies. You have to keep living and passing through worlds, while looking for the fragments of memories, not knowing where or when they will all be gathered.

"But," Yuko said, once more looking to Syaoran. "You are still steadily determined, right?"

Syaoran gave her a nod. His resolve remained the same. When the life of someone as important to him as Sakura was, he wouldn't back out if there was something he could do. He couldn't let her die like this.

"Readiness and sincerity," Yuko continued, holding Mokona out in front of her in the palm of her hand. "Qualities that are indispensable in order to accomplish anything. Qualities your are properly provided with. Well then… off you go."

A pair of large, white, angelic wings sprouted from Mokona's backside, it hovered into the air. A large magic circle appeared beneath the feet of the travelers, as magic swirled around them. Mokona's mouth opened taking up most of it's body.

The magic circle died down, the travelers, and Mokona disappeared. The rain stopped, and the clouds parted, revealing a ray of sunlight. "I pray, for the best fortune on your journey," said Yuko.

* * *

**Authors Note:** I want to say this right now, we will not be seeing that many Japanese colloquialisms. Why? Because Haylee is British, she is not Japanese, and this is told from her perspective. But, sadly, we won't be seeing much of Fai's endless nicknames for Kurogane.

Also, we'll see Haylee's world again, not for a while though. I'd like to say, that this future world is based off of several dystopian fiction, _The Lunar Chronicles_, by Marissa Meyer, _The Divergent Trilogy _by Veronica Roth, and the 1973 film _Soylent Green_. Now, with that said, were the ration cracker's Haylee had made of people…? We'll see later.


	2. Chapter Two

**Chapter Two  
****To a New World**

_She ran through the slums, clutching the loaf of bread close to her. The baker and a few others chased after her. She tripped, and the bread fell out of her hands. The footfalls of her chasers approached her. "Thought you could get away, eh?" the baker growled._

_Bread was expensive, amongst ever foods. She would never be able to afford it, so, she stole a loaf. Hunger could make anyone do crazy things._

_She slipped, and fell. The bread landed on the found as the men caught up to her. She felt someone pull at the back of her hair. "Hey, look," one of the men said. "She's got the eyes of a mage."_

_By the time she realized what was happening, one of the men's boots was headed straight for her face._

She woke up with her head still pounding. She turned her head to the side, to see the white egg-shaped, rabbit creature on the floor beside her head. "She's awake!" Mokona cheered.

She heard a deep, agitated groan, presumably from the ninja in black. "Looks like it," the blonde said, helping her to sit up. "I'm sorry, I don't think we were properly introduced earlier. My name's a bit of a mouthful, so feel free to call me Fai."

She was in an oriental-style room. It was cramped, however. With four, no five, people, and a whatever Mokona was, it was bound to be. The room was obviously meant for one or two people. The boy was still out of it, and still held onto the girl as though both of their lives depended on it. The man in black sat against the wall in the far corner of the room.

She realized that her boots were off to the side. Someone, Fai most likely, must have taken them off when she was out. Something she _really_ didn't know what to think of. "I'm…" her voice trailed off. Wow, not only did she lose her train of thought, it completely wrecked. "Uh… _Haine_. I'm Haine."

Haine? Hi-ney? Why did that sound so weird? It was her name, something she had been called her entire life. By that logic, it shouldn't be alien to her. Yet it was.

"Any idea where we are?" she asked, flattening out her hoodie.

"Not really, no," replied Fai. "Mr. Black and I met the owners of this place a moment ago, but we didn't get any answers."

Mokona hopped onto the boy, with a rag in it's stubby little hand, and began whipping the boy's brow. His amber eyes fluttered open. "Puu!" Mokona cooed. "It looks like…"

"Sa… kura?" the boy said under his breath through his haze.

"… he doesn't grab Mokona…" the white rabbit cried.

"So," Fai said, taking Mokona off the boy. He allowed it to rest on his knee, which Mokona was happy about. It looked like the two of them became instant best friends while Haine was out. "Looks like he's up!"

There was a good moment of silence. When the realization hit the boy, he rocked into a sit up position shouting Sakura's name. But she was relatively safe in his arms. Sakura was still in eminent danger, she was still out of it. But, she was right there, close to him. "I dried her tentatively since she got wet from the rain," Fai explained. Mokona chirped about how it helped. Haine saw that the man in black had a look of distaste, which made her wonder what happened. "Even while you were asleep, you didn't let go of her. And you are… uh…"

"I'm Syaoran," the boy introduced.

"My names rather long, so you can call me Fai," said the blonde. He pointed to Mr. Black in the corner of the room. Mokona hopped up to him, and sat happily in Mr. Black's lap. "And Mr. Black over there, what's your name?"

"I'm not black!" the man in question roared. "It's Kurogane! And where the hell do you think you're sitting?!"

He glared down at Mokona and attempted to swat him away. The white rabbit dodged, with a huge smile on it's face. It made it clear that it had no intention of leaving. _'Why does it seem like the cute things gravitate towards the obvious grumps?'_ Haine couldn't help but think.

"And I'm Haine," she introduced.

Syaoran's smile faltered as he shifted his position on Sakura. She was like ice. He didn't need to be told twice. He knew he had to get Sakura's memory fragment to her, fast. But Syaoran didn't even know where to start looking.

Haine was a bit awestruck by the Syaoran's affection for Sakura. He was younger than her, two or three years at most, but he had the willingness and dedication to rival a man twice his age. He must have had quite the history with this girl to warrant reactions like this.

It must have been nice to have someone like that.

Fai suddenly leaned forward, and reached into Syaoran's green cloak. Naturally, the boy looked a bit flustered. Haine remained unsure of what to do. Call an adult? Well, Fai _was_ an adult. He wasn't going like this all the time, was he?

Fai drew his hand back, revealing a white feather with a delicate red pattern. But the power that seemed to radiate from it surprised Haine. Something small, and delicate, could hold that kind of power. Haine wasn't sure what surprised her the most, the fact that something powerful could come in a tiny package, or that she could _feel_ it. "Is this what her piece of memory looks like?" he asked, much to Syaoran's complete and utter surprise. "It got stuck to you. It's the only one."

The feather fluttered out of his hand, and over to Sakura. It landed on her chest, where it returned to her body. A look of relief crossed Syaoran. Not better, per say, but relieved. "Her body's getting warmer," he said under his breath.

"She would've died without it…" Haine realized.

"It was by chance that the feather stuck to my clothes," Syaoran said thoughtfully.

"There's nothing by chance in this world," Fai said, paraphrasing Yuko's worlds before they departed. "At least that's what the witch says. You must have caught the feather subconsciously in order to help that girl. Or that's my guess."

Haine found herself open jawed. This guy was really hard to pin down. Going from quasi- philosophical to 'nope-I'm-just-guessing' in two seconds flat. "Okay, so… found one," she said outloud. She pulled her knees up to her chest. It was hard to think with this headache. "But finding other's can't be easy."

"Mokona knows!" the white creature in question leaped into the air. It landed on Syaoran's knee. "Just now there was a strong wave from the feather. It it's close, I'll know. When I catch a wave, Mokona will become like this!"

It's eyes snapped wide open, losing a bit of it's cuteness factor. As dumbfounded as Haine was, Kurogane out-did her in over the top reaction. He leaned against the wall, trying desperately to catch his breath, and compose himself.

'_Wait…' _Haine thought.

Mokona's ability seemed a little, did she want to say…? Oddly specific. Like Mokona was born just for this purpose. But as powerful as Yuko probably was, there was no why she could have known this would happen. Then again, she did call their meeting 'inevitable.'

"That'll help," Fai said tussling Mokona between it's ears. "If the feather is close, Mokona will sense it."

Syaoran took Mokona into his free hand. He asked Mokona if it would let him know if a feather is nearby. Mokona gave Syaoran a salute, letting him know that it would, and leave everything to it. "Whether or not you search for the feathers is up to you guys," Kurogane said. The ninja was back in his place against the corner of the wall. "But this has nothing to do with me. I came here to return to my own world. That is my only purpose. I don't plan on joining or helping you."

"I understand," Syaoran replied. "This is my problem. I won't give you any trouble."

Kurogane gave him a very surprised look, and Haine couldn't blame him. Syaoran was still pretty young, but he was surprisingly mature. It was at this point Haine wondered what Syaoran's story was, but she knew better than to press the matter. They only just met after all. They were complete strangers, none of them owed the other anything.

The rather serious moment, was promptly killed when Fai started laughing, much to Kurogane's dismay. "Why so serious, Syaoran?" the magician asked him.

"What about you?" the ninja growled.

"Huh?"

"Are you going to help the brat?"

Fai thought for a moment. "Hmmm…" he breathed out. "Returning to my world isn't my priority. So… why not? There wouldn't be anything to do otherwise."

"What about you?" Kurogane asked Haine.

"Oh… well…" her voice trailed off.

That was actually a good question. It wasn't like Haine owed these people anything. On the other hand, she really couldn't do much on her own. She couldn't travel from world to world without Mokona. It wasn't as though Haine had a choice in the matter. "Might as well," she said, hugging her knees. "I'll try not to get in the way…"

"Yo!" someone called as the door opened. A man, carrying a bowl of snacks, and a woman with a tray of tea cup's walked in. Syaoran tightened his grip on Sakura. "Looks like you woke up! Don't be so alert. You came from Yuko's place, right?"

"Yuko?"

"The time-space witch, the witch of dimensions, the far-east witch. She had a lot of names."

'_Clearly,'_ Haine thought.

The woman placed the tea on a table, and retrieved a blanket from the closet. She offered it to Syaoran, who happily took it. He was quick to get off the futon, to place Sakura on it, then covered her. "I'm Arisugawa Sorata," the man introduced.

"I'm Arashi," the woman introduced.

"By the way, this is my lovely wife," Sorata gushed. Arashi ignored him as she handed out the tea cups. "My dear honey. Engrave that in your minds."

He placed a hand on Kurogane's shoulder. "If you flirt with my honey, I'll kill you," he informed the ninja.

"Why is it only me?!" Kurogane growled.

"I'm not joking," Sorata beamed.

"I WON'T FLIRT!"

'_Wow…' _Haine thought taking a sip of her tea. She didn't really care for the flavor, but she hardly ever had anything warm to drink. _'I think he has a vein budging.'_

"Well," Sorata said, taking Mokona into the palm of his hand. "Did the witch give you this…?"

"Mokona Madoki!"

"That's kind of long. Can I call you Mokona!"

"Yeah!"

'_How is this relevant?' _Haine thought, looking up at the ceiling.

"Were you expecting us?" she asked out loud.

"The blonde guy told us about the situation," Sorata explained. "He seems okay, but the truth is, the black guy has no courtesy."

"Eh?!" Kurogane growled.

"For one thing, you're pretty lucky."

"In what way?" Fai asked.

"Mokona can't chose the next world, right?" Sorata asked, walking up to the window. "This is the first world you arrived at, and there's nothing but happiness. Here it is."

He opened the window to reveal a very large, very busy night lit city. Sorata went on to explain that they were in the Republic of Hanshin. A country surrounded by the sea, so there was the occasional earthquake or typhoon. They had pretty good relationships with other countries, and the economy was very good.

Then he felt the need to explain that they had four seasons, and as they were in the middle of autumn the rice was good. How they used mostly flour for food, how they had the Constitution of Hanshin for laws, and how they didn't have wars.

All of this while using a hand puppet of his likeness.

But he wasn't done there. Sorata listed off the means of transportation in Hanshin. All of which surprised Haine, none of them existed in New London, not anymore at least. "And one might also consider a _baby carriage_, right, Honey?" Sorata asked Arashi. The implications he was getting at was pretty transparent.

Sorata continued his crash-course, history lesson when the hand puppet pulled down a map of a country in the shape of the tiger. Apparently Hanshin was also called the Country of the Tiger. He went on to explain the countries currency, the koko. And then he went on a tangent about the national baseball team.

Haine would have been bored out of her mind if it wasn't for the hand puppet. Her education was pretty minimal. She could read, no problem, but she had never actually gone to school, at least, she was pretty sure she hadn't. But even without having experienced school life, she could have figured out on her own, that it was boring.

Thankfully, the lecture was interrupted when Fai raised his hand. "Excuse me," he said politely. "May I have a question?"

"Yes, Fai?"

"Does everybody in this country speak like you, Mr. Sorata?"

"You can call me Sora. The accent I use is very old."

"It's used in the old days?" Syaoran asked, not even bothering to hide his fascination.

"Yeah," nodded Sorata. "But nobody uses it nowadays. But I, as a history teacher, want to keep up the traditions."

"You're a history teacher?"

'_He just said that,'_ Haine thought.

"You have an interest in history, Syaoran?" Sorata asked.

"Yes," the boy nodded. "Before leaving my country, I participated in a few excavation projects."

"Then it looks like we have a common interests."

Fai raised his hand again. "One more question," he said. "Where exactly are we, and who's room is this?"

'_Now there's a good question,' _thought Haine.

"It's a spare room in the apartment complex my honey runs," Sorata explain, grasping his wife by the shoulder. "It's good! She's a beautiful manager and a great cook too ~!"

An audible grunt was heard from Kurogane in the corner. He was just as uninterested on this history lesson as Haine was, if not more, given he appeared to have dozed off. "Hey!" Sorata snapped. "Pay attention!"

Something hit Kurogane on the back of his head. Startled, he shot onto his feet. Syaoran placed himself over Sakura, ready to shield her from anything. Haine's left arm instinctively guarded her face. "I didn't sense anything," Kurogane said to himself. He glare at Sorata, who looked bewildered at everyone's reaction. "Did you throw something?!"

"If he had, the angle of the shock would be different," Fai analyzed. "It came from the top."

"So…" Haine muttered, looking around the room. "What was it, and where'd it come from?"

"What?" Sorata asked, just as bewildered as ever. "I just used Kudan…"

"Kudan?"

"Oh, right! You guy's are from another dimension, of course you don't know about it."

With a black marker, Sorata wrote down a few characters on the white board he used previously. The problem was, it _clearly_ wasn't English. Haine had never seen character's like that before. "Everything is this world is haunted by a Kudan. This is how it's written," Sorata explained.

"I see," muttered Kurogane.

"I can't read it," Fai smiled. "My country doesn't use those symbols."

"Can you read it, Syaoran?" Mokona asked the boy.

"Yeah," he nodded. "More or less."

"What about Haine?"

She shook her head. "It's all Greek to me."

"So, Syaoran and Kurogane's countries use kanji, but not Fai and Haine's," Sorata said thoughtfully. He tried the pry the marker from the hand puppet, for some reason. "But the spoken language is the same."

That shouldn't have been right, Haine realized. Didn't Yuko herself say that they all came from different worlds? How was it that they all just so happened to speak the same language?

"That doesn't explain what a Kudan is," Kurogane pointed out. "You said it 'haunts?'"

"Even if you are from another world, you will still have a Kudan," Arashi explained. She knelt down onto her knee's beside the desert princess. "Can I call her Sakura?"

"Yes," Syaoran replied.

"I don't know where Sakura's memory fragments could be," Arashi explained. " In that case, they could get into anybody's hands. You don't kno conflict will arise from this."

Syaoran looked up Arashi in awe. The woman glanced up at Fai and Kurogane. "Just before, you guy's lost your power to fight, right?" she asked them.

"How do you know that?" Haine asked.

"She used to be a Shinto priestess," Sorata explained. "She has the sixth sense. But, she retired because she married me. She looked so beautiful when she was a priestess ~!"

Arashi ignored her husbands gushing. Haine couldn't help but smile slightly. She would have loved to have a doting husband like that one day. But, if he got so worked up over every little thing like Sorata, Haine probably would have had the same indifferent reactions Arashi had, too.

"I gave the witch of dimensions my powers," Fai explained.

"That bitch took my sword!" Kurogane growled.

The woman looked over at Syaoran and Haine. "I didn't give her any powers," Syaoran explained. "I didn't have any magical powers, or weapons to begin with."

"Me neither," said Haine.

It wasn't a complete lie. Haine's powers were relatively weak, the most she could do was start a small fire. But, that was about it. Nothing to mention, really.

"Maybe you're lucky," Arashi smiled softly. "Because in conflict, a Kudan can be a weapon."

"Huh? Really?" Haine questioned. "How?"

"That's something you'll have to see for yourself," Sorata said. "To understand what a Kudan is, you'll have to see it with your own eyes. So, the intro to the country's over. Mokona, is Sakura's feather in this country?"

"Yes," it said, nodding. "It's far away, but it _is_ here."

"Then let's look for the feather," Sorata told Syaoran. He nodded in agreement. Their host looked up at the other three travelers. "Will you guy's join?"

"At least for now," Fai smiled.

"I might as well," murmured Haine.

Kurogane glared at Mokona. "If I said I wanted to go, would the white thing do it?"

"Nope," Mokona beamed. "I'll stay in this country until it's found."

Taking Mokona into his hands, Syaoran gave it his thanks. Sorata went on to explain that they could stay with them until they departed. "We're in Yuko's debt," he said, taking his wife by the hand.

"Thank you very much," said Syaoran.

"It's almost midnight," Sorata realized. "I'll show you to your rooms. Fai and Kurogane are in the same room."

"Okay!"

"WHAT?!" the man in black roared.

Arashi told Syaoran that he and Sakura could use the room they were in. "Haine," she said, turning to the brunette. "I'll show you your room."

"Why does she get her own?!" Kurogane growled.

"Cause I'm a lady, yeh berk," Haine replied. She got her boots, and followed Arashi out of the room.

"What'd you call me?!"

"I said I like your scarf."

She followed Arashi a little ways down the hall. "I'll bring you some clothes tomorrow," said the woman. "I'll wash the one's your wearing tomorrow."

"Thank you," Haine smiled slightly.

The room was a little smaller than the other one. There was a futon, pillow, blanket, and spare blankets. Sighing, Haine pulled her hoodie over her head. Pulling her white tee-shirt down, she looked down at her left hand. "My hoodie's off so…" she muttered to herself.

She pulled the black glove off, revealing a metal hand. Her arm, from her shoulder down, was metal. Haine was a cyborg, ever since she was a little girl, she had a metal prosthetic for a left arm. She had out-grown three arms since she first had the prosthetic.

New London, the world, saw cyborgs as abominations, unnatural. Because of one question; 'is what you feel real, or programmed?' But, an arm replacement, that was the extent of it for Haine. Not that anyone ever listened.

"Technologically advance," Haine muttered to herself, flexing her fingers. "I'll need a place like that for when I outgrow _this_ arm."

Haine climbed into the futon, and hugged the blanket close to her. She couldn't believe how much happened in such a short time. True, Haine didn't have much back in New London, but it was everything she had known. That man just ripped her away from everything. Now here she was traveling with a kid, a crops, a ninja with a stick up his arse, and a flamboyant magician.

Haine's body shuttered in dry sobs. Maybe tomorrow this wouldn't be so overwhelming.

* * *

**Authors Note: **To briefly explain Haine's new name, I'm going with it's Japanese meaning. I looked it up and Haine is an English and German name (in both cases it's a boys name), but it's its Japanese meaning that has relevance. It should, hopefully, be clear later on.


	3. Chapter Three

**Chapter Three  
The Power to Fight**

_Haine's dream took her to a dark abyss. She walked forward for a while, unable to find anything, or anyone. After a while, Haine stopped. She cupped a hand around her mouth. "Hello?!" she called._

_A glint caught her attention. It moved with amazing speed. "I've been waiting a long time for someone to work with," she heard. "Tell me, what is it that you desire. What do you want?"_

_Haine thought for a moment. "I desire…" she murmured. "I want to survive."_

"_The will to survive is a powerful thing," the glint said. It finally stopped, revealing a metal dragonfly, batting it's thin wings. It was much bigger than the dragonflies Haine knew, probably about as long as her arm, from fingertips to her shoulder. Even thought it was dark, light caught it's wings, seemingly creating a rainbow in it's delicate wings. "Perhaps you and I were fated to meet."_

_The dragonfly flew forward, straight at Haine._

She woke with a start. Light filtered into the room. There was knock at the door. "One moment!" Haine called. She hurried to put her hoodie back on, then shoved her left hand under the blanket. "Okay."

Arashi opened the door, with a bundle in her arm. "I brought you some clean clothes," she said, placing the bundle onto the floor. "The shower's just down the hall, and empty if you want to wash up."

"Okay," Haine nodded. She smiled. "Thank you."

* * *

Later that morning, Haine stood with the boy's outside the apartment building. Each one of the boy's were dressed in clothes, leant to them by Sorata and Arashi, most likely to better fit in.

It was at this point that Haine realized that they would probably all be stuck with a signature color. Syaoran wore earthy colors, which suited him, from what Haine had seen. Black for Kurogane, and blue's for Fai. Looks like purple would be Haine's signature color. She wasn't complaining, it _was _her favorite.

The clothes their hosts lent her was a loose, sleeveless, ivory shirt. Thankfully, there was also a light purple jacket, and a magenta scarf. She had on a pair of form-hugging blue jeans, and a pair of flat brown shoes. It was the nicest things she had ever worn.

She was thrilled to be allowed an actual shower that morning. After cleaning herself in public restrooms, showers were easily the best way to clean up.

"There's no use staying inside all day," Sorata said. He was dressed and ready for work. "If you want to find Sakura's feather, why don't you look around? Walk around, then you'll understand what a Kudan is."

Syaoran nodded. His eyes glanced back up at the window, where Sakura still laid sleeping. Arashi reassured him that she'll take care of her while they were gone. Kurogane asked if they had to bring 'the white thing' with them. Mokona clearly didn't appreciate it.

Haine herself would have wondered the same thing, given Mokona must have been an odd site. But, Sorata told them that sort of sight was normal. "Alright," Sorata said. He gave Syaoran a money pouch in the shape of a frog. "Take this with you. There's enough in there to buy yourselves lunch. Well, it may not be as good as the breakfast my honey made but…"

"Why give it to the kid?" Kurogane grumbled.

"Because he looks the most trustworthy!" beamed Sorata.

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

"You know, he has a point…" Haine mumbled.

They wandered around the city together. Haine had a difficult time telling what was larger, this city or New London. But it seemed more crowded, somehow. Even with all the homeless, the sidewalks weren't this crowded. People walked to their destinations on foot.

And the _cars_. Real, working _cars_! That ran on _gasoline_!

Cars hadn't been used for a few centuries. When the hover was invented, cars steadily went out of style, now they were never used. The only time Haine had ever seen a car was in the museums she broke into during the winter. Which was how she even knew what a 'car' was in the first place.

"It's crowded!" Fai said in awe. "Tall buildings mingled with small buildings… Has Syaoran ever seen this kind of scenery?"

"No," the boy shook his head.

"What about Kurgy?"

"No!" Kurogane snapped. "And don't you dare call me by that name!"

"How 'bout Haine?"

"Emm… Sort of…" Haine replied.

That was true. There were big buildings like this in New London but they were all sleeker. It was like each one of them was made of glass. The only 'old' thing standing was Elizabeth Tower, it was the only thing left from the Second Age London. The buildings in this city were kind of clunky compared to the ones in New London.

A couple of school girls walked by, and giggled when they saw Mokona, perched on top of Syaoran's head. Kurogane tried to put it down, saying that they were laughing at it. None of this seemed to reach Mokona, it blushed slightly, believing it to be popular.

"Welcome!" the vender at a fruit stand they walked by called. "Fellows, want to buy some apples?"

The fruit the vender showed them was very peculiar. Certainly not Haine's definition of an 'apple.' Where she was from, apples were blue. "This is an apple?" Syaoran asked.

"Of course it's an apple," the vender replied.

"Apples don't look like this in Syaoran's world?" Fai asked, looking over Syaoran's shoulder.

"The shape is the same," Syaoran explained. "But is more yellowish."

"Isn't that a pear?" Kurogane asked.

"No. Pears are redder with a stalk on top."

'_What?!' _Haine couldn't help but think. _'No, pears are green!'_

"Isn't that a raki seed?" Fai threw out.

"No, I think he's talking about a strawberry," said Haine.

The vender was getting irritated with all this. None of what these potential customers were saying made sense, and they were wasting his time. "Do you want it or not?!" he snapped.

"Want it!" Mokona cooed.

The vender handed them five apples, and Syaoran paid him, if not a bit reluctant. They stood by the bridge where they ate their apples. Haine found it a bit tangy, compared to the apples she knew of. It was a flavor she expected from a citrus fruit. "Apples taste good, huh?" Fai said happily.

"I guess…" Haine mumbled.

"Yeah," Syaoran nodded. "But… we really are from different worlds."

"Oh, I haven't asked," said Fai, his attention turned to Syaoran. "How did you get to the dimensional witches place? You said didn't know any magic."

"I was sent by the high priest of my country," Syaoran explained. On his head, Mokona swallowed it's apple whole.

"That priest is really something! It's not easy to transport even a single person, yet he managed to send two people to another dimension at the same time! How about Kurgy?"

"Will you stop that?!" Kurogane growled irritably. "I was forcibly sent by the princess of my country."

"Oh! You must have done something bad, so you were punished!" Fai and Mokona laughed.

Haine tossed her apple core into the river below. She really didn't think it was funny. Probably because of how embittered Kurogane was about the whole thing, or how close to home it was. "What about you?" the ninja asked Fai.

"Me?" Fai asked, pointing to himself. "I went there on my own."

"Then you didn't have to ask the witch for help," Kurogane pointed out. "You could have traveled between worlds on your own."

"I can't," Fai said. He leaned against the bridges railing. "Even with all my power I can only send myself to another world once. The one who transported Syaoran, and the one who transported Kurgs, both have very strong magical powers. But, even if they used all their power, I supposed they could only transport to another world once. That's why the priest transported Syaoran to the dimensional witch. In order to get back all of Sakura's feathers of memories, we have to travel to many different worlds. And the only one who has that power is the witch of dimensions."

Syaoran looked lost in thought at the moment. He suddenly looked up at Haine, as though he wanted to distract himself for a moment. "You never mentioned how you got to the witches place, Ms. Haine," he said.

Haine felt self-conscious at being called 'Ms.' it was better than 'Get-Outta-My-Way-Girl.' "I'm… uh…" Haine uttered. How was she supposed to explain this without looking like she was crazy? "Some bloke just walked up to me, and sent me."

Syaoran and Kurogane looked at her as though one of her limbs just randomly fell off. Which had happened before thanks to some cruddy work done during a maintenance check. "Hey, it doesn't make any sense to me either," Haine blurted.

"So you didn't know this person then?" Fai asked her.

"Nope."

"Somehow, I doubt people just randomly send people to another dimension," said Kurogane.

"Obviously, they don't," said Fai. That was all he said on it, but Haine could see it in his eyes, the wheels were turning. There was more he had on the subject, but for whoever reason, he wasn't sharing it.

A number of yells broke out. Haine looked over her shoulder to see a number of men, all dressed in a similar black shirt, scarf, and goggles combo stood. _'A street gang,' _Haine recognized. _'Even in this world…'_

On the ground level was another gang, this one dressed in one piece suites. "We'll get you this time for sure!" yelled one of the men on ground level. "This territory belongs to us!"

"Ah! Cool!" Fai said in awe.

"Just because you have a high level Kudan!" one of the men shouted. "Don't be so cocky!"

Haine's eyes widened at the mention of 'Kudan.' Arashi and Sorata never explained just _what_ it was. It could be used in combat, she got that, but it didn't explained what it was, not really.

The leader of the goggles gang, a young man with long, sand blonde hair, gave this signal. His gang leaped down from the ledge they stood on and rand towards the second gang. None of them bore any weapon, so Haine expected them to fight bare fisted. But, to her surprise, creatures appeared at the sides of each gang member. Some of them had recognizable animals, other's had creatures that came from a dream, or nightmare. And each of these creatures had their own special power.

"So that's a Kudan," Kurogane noted, seemingly oblivious to the civilians running for their lives.

"No wonder Mokona didn't scare anyone even though it could move around," Fai added.

Haine watched the fights play out. Aside from the usage of Kudan, this wasn't that new to her. Fighting for territory, or whatever anyone had to bet on, that was how she was able to feed herself most nights.

_She slid to the ground, spitting the blood the pooled in her mouth out. Her right eye had a shiner that was just beginning to heal, and a fresh cut on her forehead. "Haine!" her friend called out for her._

_Haine looked up at the girl with hair the color of ash, and gave her a reassuring smile. She hurried onto her feet, spitting out blood once more. "Still can't call it quits?" the older boy taunted._

"_Quitting means I never had a chance," Haine replied._

_Running up to the boy, she balled up her left hand, and drove her knee into his groin. Punching him in the jaw with her metal hand, he fell over. Haine seated herself on the boy's chest, and grabbed him by the collar. "First rule about fighting," Haine said. She punched him in the face with each word she said. "Wear… a… cup!"_

_The boy was bleeding out of the nose, a nasty shiner on his eyes, and probably bit his tongue as Haine had earlier. Getting up, Haine searched the boy's pocket. "Ration tag…" she said to herself, then searched his other pocket. "Ten pounds…Twenty pounds!"_

_Her friend hurried up to Haine's side. "We should go," she said. "Before his friends find us."_

"_Don't worry," Haine said, showing her their findings. "We might be eating good tonight."_

A large, vaguely humanoid creature stalked up to the blonde man, but was hastily cut down by a giant manta ray. Haine notice Syaoran clutching his shirt, though she couldn't tell if it was just a nervous habit, or if there was something wrong.

A wave from the blonde man's Kudan tore through the area. A couple of boys hurried, along with the rest of the civilians, but the taller of the two tripped. The wave knocked over one of the billboards off it's support wires, and fell, headed straight for the boys.

Syaoran immediately ran over to shield the two, something that probably would have been futile. Fire erupted behind him, catching the sign, and burning it up to ashes. The fire soon took the shape of a large canine, defending Syaoran and the boys.

The blonde man, the leader of one of the gangs, stood on the roof of one of the stores. "Looks like you have a high level Kudan, too," he said with complete fascination. There was a part of Haine that expected him to challenge Syaoran right then and there. "A Kudan that manipulates fire. I'm water, you're fire, this is fun."

A stream of water shot out of the manta ray, straight as Syaoran. He used his body as a human sheild to protect the boys behind him. Fire created a barrier around them, and the water evaporated as soon as it touched the hot flames. "I'm Shougo Asagi," the man introduced. "And you?"

"Syaoran."

"I like your style."

"Shougo!" one of the gang members shouted. "The police are coming!"

"Damn, talk about bad timing," Shougo muttered. He looked back at his gang. "You guy's separate!"

The goggles gang let out their battle cry, as the fled the scene. Shougo looked over his shoulder, informing Syaoran that they would finish what they started when they met again. With the danger gone, the beast turned back into flames, and went painlessly into Syaoran's heart.

Stunned, the boy placed a hand on his chest. It went inside him, without burning him up. _'Glad _he_ got the fire one,' _Haine couldn't help but think.

That thought confused her, as it came out of nowhere. Haine could produce small fires, so why would it bother her if she had a fire Kudan? But the thought was unnerving, it almost terrified her.

Why did she even care? It was just a passing thought, nothing to get worked up over. It was nothing.

* * *

**Authors Note:** I both wrote and posted this sooner than I wanted. Buuut, now that I, for the most part, got the exposition chapters out of the way, I couldn't wait!


	4. Chapter Four

**Chapter Four  
****Souls, Dragons, Gods, and Secrets**

If it wasn't easy for Haine to admire Syaoran, it definitely wasn't now. Most guy's she knew would have fled the scene with their tales between their legs. "You were great," Fai complimented the boy, as he, Kurogane, and Haine walked up to his side. "Was that all your doing?"

"It was also his Kudan," Kurogane pointed out.

"Still pretty impressive," said Haine.

"I don't really know what happened," Syaoran admitted. "My body just started to get hotter…"

Syaoran quickly turned to look at the boys he rescued, asking if they were hurt. The boy who tripped looked a bit shaken up, but okay. When Syaoran asked the second, slightly younger, boy he didn't say anything. He disappeared after giving Syaoran a grateful nod of the head.

"Oh!" Fai gasped, putting two-and-two together. He dropped his fist into his waiting palm. "That was also a Kudan!"

"Anything's possible," Kurogane grumbled.

"Anyways," the blonde continued, scanning the area. "What happened to that Kudan of ours?"

"Mokona?!" Haine gasped. Why didn't she realize it disappeared? When did it disappear?!

"Isn't it like squished somewhere?" Kurogane asked, uninterested.

'_Jerk.'_

"I don't think so," Fai said pointing into the near-distance.

There were a group of girls close by, in varying ages. All of them squealing in delight, cuddling Mokona. Apparently their mode of transport really _was_ popular. Haine hurried into the crowd and swiped Mokona out of the girl's grasp. "Sorry, we misplaced this," she said hurrying back to the boys. "Thanks for finding it thought!"

The rabbit-creature explained that it was on Kurogane's shoulder, then it fell off. But, during the commotion, it felt the presents of a feather. The presences was gone, and Mokona couldn't tell who had it. "With all that commotion," Haine sighed. "It'd be impossible to tell, no doubt."

"But," Fai added. "The fact that we know some one has it is pretty good."

"If you find anything new, tell me," Syaoran asked Mokona.

"Yeah!" Mokona beamed. "Mokona will try hard!"

"It's all Kurgs fault that Mokona fell," Fai teased.

"Why blame me?!" the ninja snapped. "And I told you not to call me that!"

"Well, you _were_ the last one with Mokona," Haine pointed out. She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Excuse me," the boy Syaoran rescued spoke up. He gave the brunette boy a slight bow of gratitude. "Thank you so much for the situation back there. I'm Masayoshi Saitou, I want to do something to thank you."

"N-No," Syaoran said, flustered. He held his hands out in front of him in defense. "I didn't do anything."

"But…"

"I wanna eat lunch!" Mokona exclaimed. "At a good place!"

* * *

She sat in between Fai and Kurogane, though Haine felt a bit jittery. What if Kurogane bumped into her arm, and realized it was really hard? The people of her present could get down right repulsed by cyborgs. How would someone from the other's time and worlds react? Would they have the same reaction, or understand that it was needed to save her life? It wasn't something Haine was willing to find out right now.

Masayoshi took them to a restaurant where they were seated at a book around a large griddle. The meal cooking on the griddle was unlike anything Haine had seen, cabbage, and various other ingredients thrown in. Either way, the sent got her stomach growling.

Haine wasn't the only one confused by the dish in front of them. Syaoran looked at it in just as much wonder as Haine did. Fai seemed rather indifferent, and Kurogane stared at the thing like he was expecting it to jump up and attack. "This is…?" Syaoran's voice trailed off.

"Okonomiyaki is the main food from Hanshin," Masayoshi explained. "If you don't know this… Are you guys from another country?"

"Yeah," Fai smiled. "You could say that. So, do those people always fight over there?"

Masayoshi looked down at his hands, a little uncomfortable. The two gangs wanted to test their strength. They fight to see who's stronger, and the ones who came out victorious won their territory. Masayoshi tried to stress that there were good gangs and bad gangs, obviously he admired Shougo's gang.

Haine drowned out the rest. She leaned her hands against the wooden edge. In her experience the only good gang was the kind that got the butt kicked easily and stayed down long enough to be looted from.

"Epically the leader, Mr. Shougo!" Masayoshi gushed with such an enthusiasm is successfully broke Haine out of her musings. "And he's big and strong, so he's everybody's role-model-"

He blinked, realizing that not only had he stood up, but had earn the stares of Syaoran, his friends, and a couple of other people. "So, you admire him?" Fai asked with a knowing smile.

"Y-Yes," Masayoshi stuttered. "But I also admire Syaoran. You have a top Kudan with you, that's really great."

Haine rolled her eyes, whether she wanted to or not. Haine managed to do pretty well with the minimal education she got. Reading, and basic math was all she needed. She didn't need these history lessons!

She didn't voice her opinion as Masayoshi explained that Kudan's were ranked first class through fourth, with fourth being the lowest. But, there was a fifth class, special Kudan, Syaoran's and Shougo's Kudan fell into the special category.

"A special Kudan only goes with people who have strong minds," Masayoshi explained. "A Kudan is something that is controlled by the mind. A Kudan also reflects upon a persons strength of mind. I admire that. Mine's at the bottom… forth class…"

Haine couldn't help but feel bad for Masayoshi. That desire to be strong, like the people he admired most. She had seen in a couple of times from street kids who were scared and confused, usually the one's who had recently lost everything, and where unsure of what to do.

"But when did a Kudan go to Syaoran?" Fai asked thoughtfully.

"I had a dream last night," the boy explained.

Haine's eyebrows rose at the mention of 'dream.' The metal dragonfly suddenly came to mind. If that was her Kudan, Haine wasn't sure if she should be relieved, or insulted. A _metal_ Kudan? Wasn't her metal arm enough?

"Hold it!" one of the waiters exclaimed, startling Haine.

Apparently Kurogane tried to peek under his okonomiyaki, catching the attention of two, of the waters, well, one really. The waiter's looked to be a few years older than Haine. One of them a tall young man with black hair. The other, slightly shorter than his friend, with grey-white hair, and a kind smile.

"Your Majesty?!" Syaoran gasped. "And High Priest?! What are you doing here?!"

"You got the wrong, kid. 'Your Majesty' is no where in my name," the black haired man said dully. He looked over his shoulder at Kurogane. "And sir, please wait so you don't knock something over."

Haine looked up over the booth, with much difficulty. "He was a king in your country?" Fai asked, having a better time looking over the booth than Haine.

"Yes…" Syaoran's voice trailed off.

"And the other one with him is a High Priest?" asked Haine. The concept of a High Priest, or Priest in general was so alien to her. Religion wasn't that big a thing in her world, there was still worship of a deity, only by mages, though.

"It's like the witch of dimensions said," said Fai. "We might meet someone we know in a different world. But in these different worlds they lead different lives."

"So those two are the king and priest in the brats world?" asked Kurogane.

"They're the same, but not the same. Because the two in Syaornan's world have different lives. But at the same time their connections are the same, aren't they?"

None of this was making much sense to Haine. The only part she really did understand was that they could meet people they know in other worlds. The other stuff Fai was prating on about went way over her head. "Connections?" she asked.

Fai placed the tips of his forefingers and thumbs together, creating a heart. "The place of their lives," he explained. "Their name and heart."

"Soul, you mean," Kurogane summed up.

She still couldn't wrap her head around it. The waiters returned moment's later to flip the patties on the griddle. Haine then realized a slight problem with this world. Their eating utensils were two, thin wooden sticks. They seemed a bit familiar to Kurogane, and Masayoshi. Haine attempted to mimic them, but it still ended up a bit weird. Probably better than Fai's solution, which was stab his food with them.

* * *

"That was tasty!" Mokona cheered as they left the restaurant.

"It was," Syaoran agreed. He smiled back at Masayoshi. "Thank you for telling us about it."

Haine wasn't sure if 'tasty' was the right word. It wasn't that it was bad, it was just different. Haine had never had anything like it. It was a treat though. "So, what are we doing now?" she asked Syaoran.

"Probably look around a bit more," the boy replied.

Fai tilted his head back, and thought. "Hmm…" he muttered. "We don't know this place well. We can't go very far."

"You want to go somewhere?" Masayoshi asked. "To what place?"

"I don't know," said Syaoran. "I'm looking for something."

The local boy looked a rather excited. "Then I'll look with you!" he said happily. "I can show you the way!"

"Is it too much trouble?"

"It's nothing," Masayoshi reassured him. "I just need to call home, first."

He hurried down the street before Syaoran could say anything else. "He really does look up to you," Fai smiled. "We were interrupted earlier, you said you had a dream?"

"Yes," the boy nodded. "That thing that came from me, was in a dream about a fire beast."

Kurogane looked in the window of a toy store, much to a little girl's confusion. He looked over his shoulder. "I had a strange dream with a beast in it as well," he explained.

"Me too," Fai added. "I got yelled at!"

Haine balled up her left hand. "I had one too," she said. "I wouldn't call the creature a 'beast' though…"

"Who's the guy called Syaoran?!" a husky man in a leather jacket, and a Mohawk yelled. He was surrounded men dressed similarly, with similar hair styles. Clearly another street gang.

"Why do you want to know?" Fai asked innocently.

"Are you the man Shougo said he liked?!" the gang leader demanded.

"What if I am?"

'_Eejit,' _Haine thought, rolling her eyes.

"_I'm_ Syaoran," the boy spoke up.

"Just a kid?!" the gang leader exclaimed. "You're joking!"

One of his subordinates reassured him that this was, in fact, true. The gang leader demanded to know if Syaoran planed on joining Shougo's team, which was, of course, false. The man wanted Syaoran to join his team, the boy had no intention to, not when he had other things he needed to do.

This prompted the gang leader to jump to conclusions, claming that Syaoran was forming _his own _team. Syaoran's arguments were left ignored, and the gang leader summoned his Kudan, a giant horseshoe crab. "Holy Armonia…" Haine muttered.

The crabs tail whipped around, slashing into a near-by pillar. Naturally, civilians ran for cover, Haine idly wondered if they should have done the same.

Fai took a step forward, and was blocked by Kurogane. "This is getting boring," he said bluntly. He walked forward, facing the gang leader. "I'll take you on."

"Kuro hasn't been having fun up 'till now," Mokona commented.

"Yeah," Fai agreed. "Hanshin is just his style, huh?"

"Great place for a guy with a stick up his arse," Haine muttered.

"Shut the hell up over there!" Kurogane roared.

"But Mr. Kurogane," Syaoran spoke up. "She still has your sword-"

"It was special," Kurogane explained. "It was a cursed blade. I needed it to cut demons back in Japan. But this Kudan is not a demon."

"So what class is your Kudan?" the gang leader asked.

"Don't know, don't care," the ninja answered bluntly. He smirked. "Stop rambling and attack."

Masayoshi ran back. He nearly panicked at the sight of Kurogane's opponent. The team hit Masayoshi's neighborhood, and often fought Shuogo's team for territory. The down side, was that he had a first level Kudan that was very fast. Though, Haine already had that figured out.

The horseshoe crab attacked, using it's tail again. Kurogane flipped back, landed in front of one of the stone pillars. He crouched down as the crab's tail cut clean through one of the stone pillars. _'Goddess take me…' _Haine felt her blood run cold.

First class Kudan or not, that thing had to be stupidly strong if it could cut through concrete.

The gang leader urged his Kudan on. Kurogan continued to play on the defense. Syaoran stepped forward, and Haine half-expected him to use his own Kudan. But, Fai placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "I think Kurgy's trying to help you," he told the boy.

The crab Kudan used it's tale for rapid attacks. Kurogane was thrown back, right into one of the still-standing pillars. "Where's your Kudan?" the gang leader laughed. "Is it so weak you can't even see it?"

The remains of the pillar moved, as Kurogane seamlessly lifted it off him. "Annoying," he grumbled, tossing the rubble off him. He spoke up, "Your constant talking is so annoying."

"My Kudan is first class!" the gang leader boasted. "It's one of the strongest!"

"It still has it's weakness," the ninja said casually. "If I had my sword, I could stop this quickly."

A towering, blue dragon appeared behind him. The very beast the ninja had seen in his dream. As quickly as it came, the beast appeared in Kurogane's hand, as broadsword. Finally, something he could use.

The crab Kudan prepared for another attack. Kurogane swung the sword, slicing right through the crab. The gang lead screamed in pain, dropping to one knee. He fell over, trembling, and seemingly oblivious to his subordinate hurrying to his side. Still shaking, the gang leader accused Kurogane of being a part of a team, Syaoran's team.

"I work by myself," Kurogane said firmly. "Only for Princess Tomoyo."

Haine's real hand trembled. Gang fights were nothing new to her, but the intensity, the intensity was great. Maybe Haine was way over her head.

* * *

Surprisingly, they weren't caught by the local authority figures. They returned to the apartment to find Arashi waiting for them in Sakura's room. It looked like she changed the princess into a comfortable pair of pajamas. When Arashi asked them if they found anything, Sorata returned, begging Arashi for a welcome home kiss. She whopped her husbands over the head.

Fai suggested that the feather might have been in someone's Kudan. Sorata went into another lecture that her thought Kudan were the countries gods. There was an old myth that there were eight million gods in the country. The gods of old could very well be the Kudan of today. It was like each person had their own guardian god.

Haine hugged her knees to her chest, it was a nice thought. Being personally protected by a god. But, Haine knew better than to get her hopes up on that. Mages always thought they were protected and blessed by the goddess who gave them their magic in the first place. The goddess didn't protect millions of mages from genocide.

Personal protection was far too good to be true.

Arashi confirmed the idea that the feather could be inside someone's Kudan, since it appeared, and disappeared, much like the wave Mokona felt. But it was almost impossible to tell who had it at the time, and there was the question of getting it out. It had to be a strong Kudan though. Since Sakura's feathers were pieces of her heart, and Kudan's were controlled the strength of heart, the stronger the heart, the stronger the Kudan.

'_It's still a needle in a haystack,' _Haine hugged her knees closer to her.

"Well, now that that's decided," Sorata said, standing up. "We should eat." He pointed to Kurogane, Fai, and Haine. "You three help."

"Why me?!" Kurogane growled.

"If you don't work, you don't eat."

"Sound's fare," Haine muttered. Too bad she never really cooked before.

Arashi asked Hine to cut the carrots and greens for the 'udon.' Haine completely mutilated the carrot. "What's wrong, Haine?" she heard Fai ask. "Never worked in the kitchen before?"

'_Obviously!' _she thought. Glaring at the various sizes of carrots.

"Guess not," she said out loud.

He slid a second carrot in front of her. "Practice makes perfect."

'_Kind of hard to do kitchen work when your homeless, and there's droids to do all the work for you,' _she thought bitterly, chopping through the second carrot.

The meal that night was beef udon and fired tofu sushi, more alien concepts. Though, the beef udon was wonderful in Haine's not-so-humble opinion. The fired tofu sushi was a bit off.

* * *

Later that night Haine was sound asleep on the futon. Her blanket wrapped tight around her as she slept on her side. The door to her room opened a creek, and the girl didn't stir. "Sound asleep," Arashi said, closing the door. She turned around, to find Fai leaning against the hallway wall, his arms crossed over his chest. "You've felt it, too?" Fai nodded. "She said she didn't have any weapons or magical powers."

"When Haine first arrived at the witches shop," Fai explained. "I noticed that she had the power of a novice. Then when Haine said she didn't have any powers, I didn't think much of it. I just assumed she had the potential but chose not to go down that path. Then this morning the power that was previously just a spark became a clear fire."

Arashi nodded. She knew what he was talking about. Yesterday she could tell that Haine had the potential for magic, but it was faint, like it was being held back. This morning, it was like it was let loose. "Her magic has grown slightly, but she's still a novice," said Arashi. "Tell me, do you know if there has been any recent change in her for this to happen?"

The blonde magician side, and tilted his head back. "I couldn't tell you," he said. "We just met so- No… No, that's not entirely true. The witch asked for her name as payment. And she agreed."

The woman grasped her chin in thought. She thought as much. "A name does have power, especially true names," she said, mostly to herself. "What was her previous name?"

"Not sure. The witch never had her introduce herself."

"Perhaps her price helped her out," Arashi murmured.

'_Help her, or possibly damned her,' _thought Fai.

Hopefully, Haine had no intention on studying magic. If she hadn't yet, why would she now?

* * *

**Authors Note:** This was _almost _the chapter from hell because my computer kept crapping out on me.


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five  
****Will to Try**

"And _of course_, no one walks around with their Kudan out," said Haine. She tilted her head back, and slid one hand into her pocket. "Needle in a haystack."

"Even if we the Kudan with the feather, will it give it up so easily?" Kurogane pointed out.

"Ah yeah…"

She was beginning to think this whole thing was hopeless. How were they supposed to find something like a feather in a country where there were probably millions of Kudan.

Haine jumped when Syaoran let out a surprised yell. Masayoshi's Kudan melted out of the wall beside him. Seconds later, the Kudan's master came running up. "Did you find what you need?" he asked.

"Not yet," Syaoran said, clearly discouraged.

"Then please let me guide you again," Masayoshi offered. Mokona leaped over from Syaoran's shoulder to Masayoshi.

"Are you sure?"

"Today's Sunday, so I'm off for the day."

"How were you able to find us so quickly?" Fai asked.

"My Kudan let's me know where people I met are," Masayoshi explained.

"Well, that's hand," Haine smiled. She wouldn't mind a metal Kudan if it had that ability.

"B-But that's all it can do," Masayoshi said flustered. "It's really weak…"

A high-pitch screech echoed across the city. A metal crane swooped down, and snatched up Masayoshi and Mokona. Haine was torn between shock and the need to start ranting about how random that was. "Mr. Fai, Mr. Kurogane, Ms. Haine!" Syaoran exclaimed, with a sheet of paper in his hands. "Kàn kàn zhège!"

Haine was sure she had just gone insane. She had gone insane, which was why Syaoran was suddenly speaking gibberish. "Bùguǎn shì shuí liúle yī zhāng zhǐ tiáo," Syaoran continued. Yup, Haine was still insane. "Wǒ xiǎng wǒmen huì zhǎodào tāmen zài zhè zuò gōngdiàn."

"Nani?" Kurogane questioned. "Kiddo wa, koko de imi o tsukuri hajimeru hitsuyō ga aru to shite iru."

'_EH?!'_ Haine was beginning to panic.

"Syaoran," Fai spoke up. "Mne ochen' zhal', no ya ne ponimayu, chto."

"It's not just me, right?" Haine asked, pointing at herself. "I'm not the only one hearing gibberish, right?"

She glanced at Haine, who looked just as confused as she did. Fai suddenly tapped the side of his head a few times. "YA dumayu, ya prosto poteryal yego," he said. "YA ne mogu ponyat' to, chto vy vse govorite."

"Nani ga jigoku," Kurgoane grumbled. "Kimitachi wa nansensu o hanashite iru, anata wa sore o shitte imasu ka?"

Haine tried to keep herself together. Her traveling companions were speaking three different languages. This wasn't overwhelming at all. Even though the rest of the world was probably speaking in a language she didn't understand either. It wasn't overwhelming. Not at all.

"What happened though?" Haine asked herself.

Something must have happened for this to happen. What though? They could understand each other perfectly until-

'_Wait…'_

"Mokona!"

"Syaoran," Haine turned to the boy. "Do you know where we need to go? It's a ransom note, right?"

"Duìbùqǐ, Haine-nǚshì," said Syaoran. "Wǒ bù míngbái nǐ zài shuō shénme. Dànshì, wǒ rènwéi wǒmen kěyǐ zài zhèlǐ zhǎodào tāmen."

Syaoran lead the way across the city. Once they reached the train station and a map brochure, it looked like he had a clear idea where they were going. The train ride was about fifteen minutes long, and unlike the trains Haine knew of. The trains in the New London Underground ran much more smoothly, and faster. Had this been her world, they would have been there within a few seconds.

"Hái yǒu dì dìfāng!" Syaoran exclaimed as they ran out of the train station. "Nà biān!"

"K sozhaleniyu," Fai laughed slightly. He waved his hand side to side. "Ya do sikh por ne mogu ponyat' Vas."

"Aho anata o rikai suru koto wa dekimasen," Kurogane added, uninterested.

"Guess we're not close enough…" Haine muttered.

"Wǒ réngrán wúfǎ lǐjiě tāmen…" Syaoran added.

The place Syaoran took them too sort of reminded Haine of Yuko's shop. Though, it was much, much grander. From there, Haine could see a couple of figures hanging off of the tiger-fish figure at the top of the building. Masayoshi and Mokona. "There they are!" Fai said, waving to the two.

"They look like their having fun," Kurogane commented. "The white one, anyway."

"Then why'd you use 'they?'" Haine asked without realizing what just happened. "Oh!"

The four of them looked at each other. There was a moment of confusion and relief. "Finally," said Kurogane. "I can understand what you guy's are saying."

"Yeah, who wants to learn three languages at once?" Haine added.

"That mean's it really was Mokona's ability," said Syaoran.

"Mokona must act like some kind of translator for us," Fai deduced as they hurried to the palace. "Seeing as we all come from different worlds, naturally, we'd speak different languages."

"So if we get separated from the meat bun again, we won't be able to understand each other?" asked Kurogane.

"Probably," Haine said as though it were the most obvious thing. Honestly, it was.

"That's so annoying!"

Haine could hardly believe the sight in front of the palace. Rows upon rows of men crowded the road in front of them. Syaoran, deciding to use this to their advantage, held up the note, and asked who wrote it. "I did!" a woman declared.

On one of the place's highest balcony a young woman sat on the wooden railing. Her long, sea-green hair fell over her shoulders. She was dressed in pink with a yellow wing ornament on her back. _'Beautiful…' _Haine thought in awe.

"Who is this woman?" asked Kurogane.

An enraged roar erupted from the crowd. "How dare you say you don't know who Primera is?!"

"Primera is our idol!"

"She can sing, she can dance, and also has sexy legs!"

"On top of that she has a super strong Kudan!"

"She's cute _and_ strong! She's the best!"

"You had to ask…" Haine muttered, in spite of her own flustered feelings.

"Please let Masayoshi and Mokona go!" Syaoran pleaded with Primera.

The young woman pointed at the two. "You mean that isn't Syaoran?" she asked.

"_I'm_ Syaoran!"

"IDIOTS!" Primera yelled. She began smacking a small number of her groupies in the head with a fan. "YOU MORON'S BROUGTH THE WRONG PERSON!"

"If I'm the person you're looking for, please let them go!" Syaoran pleaded.

"No," Primera retorted. She leaped down onto a lower leveled rooftop. "If you want them back, you have to fight me first!"

Cheers roared from the audience below. "I can't see a way up there," Syaoran muttered, discouraged.

"I might be able to get up there," said Fai.

"You found stairs?" asked Haine.

"No. But I think I can get up there."

"How?" Kurogane asked. It sounded something like a challenge. If he couldn't see away up, how could this magician?

Fai smiled slightly. "By using my Kudan."

The wind picked up as a large, light-green bird appeared by Fai's side. The bird disappeared, and Fai lifted off the ground. "He's flying?!" Syaoran gasped.

"These Kudan come in every type," Kurogane grumbled.

Haine crossed her arms over her chest and pouted. "I wanna do that…"

Primera complained that her Kudan didn't grant her than ability. She quickly composed herself, and a large microphone appeared in her hand, her own Kudan. She yelled into it, and giant words, written in kanji, shot out of the microphone, straight at Fai. "Mr. Fai!" Syaoran shouted over the explosion.

Haine's hands clasped over her mouth. She didn't know Fai very well, but still, she wasn't that heartless. She may have done thing she couldn't take back, but she was not heartless to her allies. "Look," Kurogane said calmly.

The smoke began to clear. Haine could see something hovering in the air. It was Fai, he was okay. "I'm surprised," said the blonde. "That's also a Kudan? This countries really amazing! Look's like Mokona's having fun, too."

"Ms. Primera has a special Kudan!" Masayoshi shouted over Mokona's singing. "You have to be careful!"

Getting angry, Primera shouted into the microphone again, sending more words out. Fai, knowing what to expect this time, dodged them with a great deal of skill. Haine gripped her arm and squeezed it. She really had not been doing much since she left home. _"No one's stopping you but you,"_ she heard.

Haine gasped. It was the same voice she heard the other night. Maybe it was about time to see what her Kudan could do. "Okay…" she said under her breath.

The metal dragonfly appeared momentarily on her shoulder. Haine tore off running for the building. She wasn't quite sure how she pulled it off, but she managed to leap onto the roof of the entrance with ease. Her Kudan's ability? If it was a cat, maybe, as far as Haine knew, dragonflies weren't jumpers.

Climbing farther up, Haine came head-to-head with a number of Primera's groupies. A slight smirk played on Haine's lips. She readied herself, then drove her metal fist into the nearest lackey. As another man ran up to her, Haine spun around, hook-kicking him in the side of the head.

She slid slightly as completed the circle. The flat shoes Arashi lent her were not good for fighting like this. Three more men went for the attack. Haine drove her elbow into the chest of one of them, knocking the wind out of him. Her hand connected with the nose of another, and she snapped one leg up, kicking the third guy in his mid-section.

The building rumbled. "Why can't you hold still?!" Primera snapped.

"Well, if I let your Kudan hit me," Fai said playfully. "It would hurt a lot!"

Haine stole the opportunity, and climbed onto the banister, then climbed onto the next roof top, then the next. She thought she was doing okay, until one of the groupies caught her by the ankle, and pulled her into one of the balconies.

"We have to get up there and help them!" Syaoran exclaimed, watching both fight's play out.

"Don't worry, they'll be fine," Kurogane said with a slight sigh. By now Primera was shouting various tongue twisters "I've used Kudan to battle before, so I know how to control it well enough. Sure the mage can use his Kudan to fly, but his body is still the way it was."

"You mean he's dodging those attacks on his own?" the boy questioned.

"He may look weak, but he's a fighting veteran. Look at the girl."

Haine dodged several punches by moving back. Her head slammed into the head of one attacker, slightly dazed she pushed him back as hard as she could, knocking him, and a few unsuspecting groupies with him. Haine climbed onto the railing again, and continued to climb up the rooftops. "Girl may not look like much, but she's no stranger to fighting for her life," said Kurogane.

"I know," Syaoran replied simply.

"You aren't surprised?"

"I can see from the way they both move," the boy explained. "And also, you can feel the power when you look into Mr. Fai's eyes."

"Your not as dumb as you look," Kurogane complimented.

"I still want to help somehow!"

"But I wasn't wrong about you being some brat…"

As Haine continued farther up as more screeches came from Primera, followed by explosions. Having the ability of flight would have really come in handy right about now. At long last she finally made it to the top. She just had to untie Masayoshi and Mokona, then find a way do.

"I'm… SO EMBARASED!" Primera screamed, amplified by her transformed Kudan.

The blast of her words shot upward. Haine felt the roof under her feet give way. She tried to scream, but nothing came out of her mouth. It was probably for the best, Masayoshi was screaming enough for the three of them. Her hand reached out and caught onto one of the roof tops. By the time Haine tried to grab the others, they had fallen way too far out of reach.

The boy's Kudan was out, holding on tightly to it's master. It looked like he was about to hit the ground, when a large stingray caught him, and the rabbit-creature. "What do you think you're doing, Primera?" Shougo demanded, already drained from the whole thing.

"Shougo!" the girl with sea-green hair gasped.

Shougo asked her about her concert. Primera wanted to see Shougo, but he wouldn't come. Her plans resulted in the destruction of one of Hanshin's historic buildings. The young woman quickly pointed out that Shougo and his gang destroyed buildings all the time. Of course, presumably, none of them was a big part of their culture.

'_So, not only did my attempts to save them be for nothing,' _Haine thought bitterly. _'But we're caught up in a lovers spat. Yep, the Goddess hates me. Better find a way down, though…'_

"What's she complaining about?" Kurogane asked as Fai landed beside him.

"Primera likes that gang leader, Shougo!" one of her groupies explained, all while crying.

"But he doesn't pay any attention to her, so she's sad!"

"And how does everyone know this?" Fai asked.

The men opened various magazines, with different articles about Primera. One of them tossed a magazine in the traveler's direction, which was caught by Kurogane. Apparently Primera confirmed it recently.

Shougo started to tell Primera off, he didn't have time for this. Not with school, and chores. He held up a work apron to emphasize this. But, Primera, having gotten lonely, thought if she got Syaoran and his team into her fan club, Shougo might come see her. Shougo was less than impressed with this, especially given that Primera got the wrong kid.

By time Haine climbed down to Mokona, and Masayoshi's level, Mokona was trying to get Syaoran's attention. It felt a feather just now, but wasn't able to tell where it was.

'_So it's probably in a Kudan,' _thought Haine. _'Meaning, Syaoran's probably going to fight for it. Meaning, we really need to get down.'_

Shougo gave Syaoran an apology if his complement gave him trouble. He had a strong heart, which was why Shuogo wanted to fight him. Syaoran accepted. He had something he needed to do, the feather may have been in Shuogo's Kudan. Smirking, Shuogo placed his goggles on, and instructed his gang not to help.

On the signal, streams of fire and water met. Syaoran moved with such skill, Haine was almost jealous. He attacked with such a force that knocked Shuogo off his feet, panic stricken, Primera called out his name. But, he was caught by his own Kudan. He told Primera not to scream, or worry. "I wasn't worried!" an embarrassed Primera snapped.

Shuogo and Syaoran before the gang lead shouted for everyone in the area to run. Water formed in the center Shuogo's Kudan, releasing a large tidal wave. "Syaoran!" Masayoshi yelled. "Oh, no! He got carried away by the river!"

"No," Haine shook her head. She clenched her fists. "He… He wouldn't…"

There was _no way _Syaoran would die like that. Not when he still had so much to do for Sakura. Not now. Not like this. Right? "Syaoran's over there," Mokona pointed calmly.

Steam rose from the water. As the water evaporated, Syaoran could be seen crouched down, surrounded by a barrier of fire. _'This kid's amazing…' _Haine thought, her mouth hanging open slightly.

The building began to rumble. Haine looked up to find debris, she was about to hurry over to Masayoshi and Primera when a plank of wood slammed into the back of her neck. She fell over, and off the roof in her daze. The air pounding in her face was able to snap her out of it.

She abruptly stopped in mid air, much to her confusion. Haine tried to, somehow, sit up when she flipped, quite literally, head over heels. Glancing down (or up?) she saw four delicate wings on the back of both ankles beating rapidly. Was this how she managed to climb the building so easily? "A heads-up would've been nice…" Haine muttered.

Haine told herself to move forward. She felt herself be jerked forward until she crashed into the tree she was pretty sure Fai landed in earlier. "Nice landing there, Haine," she heard Fai laugh at her. "I'd say the dive needs a bit of work though."

"Not… funny…" Haine forced out as she untangled her legs from the branches.

She yelped as she rolled out of the tree, landing flat onto the ground. Muttering a few curses to herself, Haine pushed herself onto her knees. Haine froze when she felt a cool hand rest on her shoulder, her metal shoulder, and another hand push her hair to the side. "You're bleeding," Fai said softly.

"Huh?"

"The back of your neck. Something must have hit you here."

"Kay," Haine said standing up quickly. She whipped around, and looked up at Fai. The guy practically towered over her. "I'll take a look at it back at the apartment."

Rain from Shougo's Kudan fell as Syaoran successfully retrieved the feather from Masayoshi's oversized Kudan. But, unfortunately, this was the farthest from Haine's mind. Not only did she _not_ succeed in what she hoped to accomplish, but she was _this close _to having her arm revealed.

Haine always thought she did pretty well making it on the streets for as long as she did. But, seeing Syaoran, Kurogane, and Fai fight, was it possible that Haine was only alive though sheer dumb luck?

* * *

**Authors Note:** I really should be working on my other stuff. But this is just so much fun! ^-^

Okay, the 'lost in translation.' Obviously Kurogane's speaking Japanese, Syaoran's speaking Chinese, and Fai is speaking Russian. Most I've come across (and the dub) have him speak French, buuuut I wanted to do something different. All were from Google Translate, and with that said, I know online translators aren't accurate. Buuuuut, I don't have the time or patients to learn three different languages for the sake of one bit.


	6. Chapter Six

**Chapter Six  
****Loose Ends**

With the adrenaline gone, Haine could feel the back of her neck throbbing. The open wound stung as she ran to the apartment complex after Syaoran, but she did her best to ignore it. She would dress it herself, somehow, later.

Her eye's turned towards the sky. The clouds were getting darker, rain was on it's way. Haine knew that much.

By the time they caught up with the boy, Sakura had opened her eyes. Syaoran had her hand in his own. He looked like he couldn't have been happier to see Sakura awake. "Who are you…?" she asked the boy.

Haine didn't need their life stories to know that what Syaoran and Sakura had was pretty special. It was because of that, Haine expected Syaoran to start crying right then and their. For a moment, it looked like he almost did. But, he smiled and said, "I'm Syaoran. And you're Princess Sakura."

It was brilliant acting, but considering how emotionally close he was to his 'audience' the act couldn't last forever. He gave her a brief synopsis of what happened. How she was the princess of another world, and how she had lost her memories. But she wasn't going off on her own, she had traveling companions. Syaoran was one of them. "So, we never met before?" Sakura asked absently.

Smiling, Syaoran nodded. "Princess Sakura, it's pleasure to meet you," Fai said, walking into the room. He gave the desert princess a slight bow. "I'm Fai D. Flowright."

He placed a gentle hand on Syaoran's shoulder. A clear sign that it was okay for him to excuse himself from the room. Fai gestured over his shoulder to the man in black, who was still leaning against the wall. "And this is-"

"Kurogane," the ninja said before Fai had the chance to use one of his ridiculous nicknames on him.

Haine walked up to Fai's side, and smiled. "I'm Haine."

Mokona hopped into Sakura's lap. Kurogane and Fai were at the window, most likely watching Syaoran. Haine stood up, with the intention of going over herself, when she felt someone clasp onto her hand. Looking down, her eyes met with Sakura's. "Ms. Haine…" the princess voice trailed off. "Could you…"

"I'll stay with you for a bit, if that's what your asking," Haine smiled at her. "All of this is a bit to take it, and I don't doubt you're a little confused."

Sakura gave Haine a small smile. "Thank you."

Sakura was very cute girl, Haine was not afraid to admit it. Short brown hair with a tint of red in it. Eyes a lovely shade of green. Pale skin and delicate features. If she had a sweet personality to match with her sweet face, it was no wonder Syaoran loved her as much as she did. Haine would, too.

Maybe it was because Sakura had green eyes, and short hair, but she really reminded Haine of Suu. Haine's hand balled up tightly at the thought. She was about Sakura and Syaoran's age when Suu died.

_The pitter patter of the rain fell upon death ears. Haine laid on her make-shift cot of old pillows. She hadn't eaten in three days. Her ration tag was in need of renewal. But, in order to get that, you needed money. And you couldn't get money if no one was hiring you for odd jobs. Stealing was rather hit or miss. Whatever Haine could get her hands on was pocket change. Otherwise she was caught and beaten._

"_I thought ration's were supposed to make our lives easier…" Haine said bitterly. _

_She turned to her other side to face her friend, Suu. A girl around her own age. Suu was a thin, pale girl. Her hair was ash white, cut short. Her evergreen eyes were tired and worn out. She was just as hungry as Haine was. _

_They met as little girls when Suu helped Haine from a couple of men disgusted by her prosthetic. But Suu thought Haine's arm was cool. So, the two stuck together all this time. It made street life bearable. _

_Haine clutched her stomach out of hunger pains. There were days like this, when the hunger got so bad she wondered if she was better off dead. Better die now then slowly wither away to nothing. _

"_Do you think…" Suu spoke up. "Do you think there's a way for those with nothing to look forward to, to find happiness?"_

_She looked up, purple eyes on light green. "What do you mean, Suu?" asked Haine._

"_I've… just been thinking," the other girl said, with her eye closed. "Have we ever really done anything for ourselves?"_

"_Of course we have. We keep ourselves alive."_

"_It's not really _for us_, though," Suu stressed. "Have we ever had fun? Have we ever been…_truly_ happy?"_

_Haine was at a lost for word. She got what Suu was trying to get at. They had both fought hard to stay alive, but they never actually _lived_. Never did anything fun. Never actually smiled in true happiness. As the realization hit her, Haine hugged herself, and rolled over. "I guess we haven't…" she murmured._

"_Maybe…" Suu's voice trailed off. "Maybe you can find that true happiness…"_

"_What are you talking about?" Haine said, rolling back onto the other side. "We'll _both_ find that happiness."_

_Suu remained still, peaceful, like she was sleeping. But she didn't respond to Haine. Sitting up, Haine reached out and shook her friend by the shoulder. "Suu…?" she said, shaking the girl. Still no response. "Suu… Suu!"_

_Launching out of her cot, Haine placed her hand in front of Suu's face. She couldn't feel her breath. "No…" Haine breathed out. She tried desperately to find Suu's pulse. No matter where she checked, she couldn't feel her heartbeat. She was dead. "No… no…"_

_With shaking shoulders, Haine held the body close to her. How could she? How could she leave her like this?_

"_Why…?"_

The best explanation Haine could think of was that Suu died of malnourishment. That she was hiding the severity from Haine. Naturally Haine was angry that she had died like that. Hurt, angry, scared.

But what really bothered Haine about all Suu's death, was that she couldn't bring herself to cry. As much as Haine wanted to mourn her friend, the tears didn't come out.

"Princess," Haine said standing up. "I'm going to see if the owners of this room have anything in mind for dinner. I'm sure you're hungry. I'll just be a minute, but I'm sure Mokona will stay with you until I get back."

"Okay," Sakura nodded.

As Haine left the room, Sakura looked down at her hand. Before she woke up, someone was holding it. That hand was nice, and warm against her skin. She could still feel the warmth, something that made her smile.

* * *

The next day they met up with Masayoshi at the restaurant again. Sakura was still fairly drowsy, so they thought it best she stay with Arashi at the apartment to rest a bit. Syaoran's wounds were dressed, thankfully they weren't as bad as they could have been under different circumstances.

Haine took care of her own injury herself, with much difficulty. She was very tempted to ask Arashi for help, but her fear of being found out outweighed her need of help. After so many years of being looked down at with hate and disgust, Haine wasn't sure if she could handle those looks from her companions.

Despite he, and his Kudan being weak, Masayoshi was happy to help Syaoran get the feather back. Syaoran gave him a bit of advise. That he shouldn't always think of himself as weak. To defend Primera the way he did, the way he dealt with the pain when Syaoran got the feather, that was a wonderful kind of strength. His strength.

Syaoran's words touched Masayoshi, tears swelled up in his eyes. "Thank you," Masayoshi smiled while wiping his tears. "Thank you for telling me that!"

Shougo suddenly appeared in front of the table. Apparently one should never doubt the intelligence network. The gang leader gave the waiter with glasses and kind smile his order. That was when they found out that 'Your Majesty' kind of became a nickname for his coworker, much to his annoyance.

Syaoran apologized for stopping in the middle of the battle, but Shougo didn't mind, he understood the situation. But, as far as Shougo could tell, Syaoran won. Since he figured Syaoran and the other's wouldn't be staying for much longer, he wanted to see him one last time.

"If we come back to this country, we'll visit you," Syaoran reassured both Shougo and Masayoshi. "Definitely."

Later, they all stood in front of the apartment, each of them dressed in the clothes they arrived in. Haine fiddled with her glove. She was at the point where she was pretty sure Kurogane and Fai at least figured Haine was hiding her left hand for _some_ reason. They probably didn't know what, but for some reason.

Sakura stood to Hiane's right, with Mokona perched on her shoulder. The desert princess rubbed her eye. "Are you alright?" Fai asked her, kindly.

"Yeah," Sakura smiled slightly. "I'm just a bit tired."

"Don't push yourself, okay," said Haine.

"I won't."

Syaoran stole a glance at the princess as she has a brief conversation with Mokona. It was hard, he knew that. But he didn't think it would be _this_ hard. "Don't look back," Kurogane said, snapping him out of his thoughts. Haine glanced up at the ninja. "If you have something you must do, then look forward."

A smirk tugged at Haine's lips. Kurogane really didn't seem like the type who could give _good_ advise, not at first glance. The other day it really didn't seem like he would willing give advise. Syaoran must have really impressed him to a degree.

Mokona's wings sprouted from it's backside, as a magic circle appeared at the groups feet. "Thank you very much!" Syaoran shouted to Sorata and Arashi over the roaring wind.

"Don't worry about it!" Sorata replied.

"I hope you will find Sakura's feather in the next world," Arashi smiled. Her hands were balled up in the center of her chest.

"Yuko already knows, doesn't she," Sorata asked, holding his wife close to him. The traveler's had already disappeared, leaving Mokona behind to follow after them. "No matter what happens, they will always go through it together."

"Yeah," Arashi smiled.

* * *

Color's swirled around her. Not unlike her first inter-dimensional jump at the hands of that man. But this time Haine wasn't so afraid.

A gasp escaped from Haine's lips. She felt something, something she couldn't quite put into words. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw the metal dragonfly. Of course, since they weren't in the Hanshin Republic anymore, there wasn't any need for their Kudan. _"Strengthen your heart further," _she heard. _"The day will come when you live up to your expectations."_

Haine smiled. While they weren't together for that long, the separation was a bit bittersweet. Maybe because of it's encouraging words, at least partially.

She looked forward as a bright light hurt her eyes. When the light died down, Haine could see a village market. And she was pretty sure they were headed right for someone's stand. _'Of cour-'_

_**THWACK!**_

* * *

**Authors Note:** Short chapter is short. Kind of a first considering past chapters, buuuut. Eh. I'm aiming for Haine to get a little… what's the word I'm looking for… proactive(?) next arc. Call this the introduction.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven  
****Hiding in the Wind**

Dust and vegetables flew into the air as the group. Some form of potato pelted Haine's backside as she pushed herself onto her knees. They landed in the middle of an old-fashioned market. People were dressed in vary peculiar clothing. And in the near-distance, it looked like there was a castle protected by a stone fortress.

"Where are we now?" Kurogane asked dully.

"How the hell should any of us know?" Haine replied.

"Everyone's staring at us!" Fai laughed.

Haine wasn't sure if that was anything to laugh about. There was a crowd of people that were held back by, what looked like, local law enforcement. At least, that was her guess. The crowd parted when a rather large, man dressed in a very fine robe marched up. "Who the hell are you?!" he demanded. When no one replied, the man grew angry and grabbed Sakura by the arm. "Answer me! Where did you come from?!"

Without missing a beat, Syaoran threw a kick, right in the mans face, with a force that knocked off the man's hair piece. _'Nice!' _Haine thought with an awkward grin. _'Looked like it really hurt though…'_

The man was thrown back several yards. He stumbled onto his feet. It was obvious by the look on his face that he wasn't just angry, he was downright pissed. "Do you realize who you just kicked?!" the man roared.

"If you don't want to be thrown around, then don't mess with people you don't know, dumbass!" a voice shouted.

A girl, probably about twelve or thirteen, stood on one of the roof tops. Her black hair was pulled back into a high pony-tail, with two longs framing her face. She was dressed in a similar style as the rest of the village, but in shades of yellow. "Chu'nyan!" the man snapped. "Who did you just call 'dumb?!'"

"Besides you," the girl, Chu'nyan, said, pretending to look around. "Who else is dumb around here?"

"How rude!" one of the solders behind the man shouted.

"He's the son of the Ryanban! Ruler of Koryo!"

Chu'nyan counted with the fact that their 'Ryanban' was just a homeless magician a year ago. But, she should have known what happened to people who opposed the Ryanban. The man, and his solders walked off, swearing vengeance.

"So this is one of _those_ places," Haine muttered.

"What was that, Haine?" Fai asked her.

"Isn't it obvious? This is one of those countries that has a tyrannical rulers, and we're the magical vagabonds fated to liberate them. Then when all is good the travelers go flying off into the sunset, as their tale is passed down in stories."

"A pretty shrewd observation, there, Haine."

Haine shrugged. Those sort of stories were always playing on the netscreen apps in stores. Haine went into electronic stores all the time to warm herself up, and watch whatever was playing while pretending to be browsing. "Are you okay?" Syaoran asked Sakura.

"I'm fine," the princess smiled. "Thank you though."

"Wow," Fai looked over his shoulder. An excited Mokona attempted to imitate Syaoran's kick. "Just a moment ago, everyone was looking at us!"

Finally noticing the mess they made from their landing, and possibly self-defense, Syaoran began picking up the produce. "Kurgy," Fai called, collecting the vegetables in his arms. "Help pick these up."

"You're so annoying!" the ninja growled.

"You landed in the stand, too, ya know," Haine pointed out.

"Those idiots," Chu'nyan cursed under her breath. "Doing these kind of things around the market place!"

"When the Amen'osa arrive, then this town will be saved," said one of the villagers.

The local girl looked up at the five travelers. "You look weird," she said bluntly.

"She said Kurgy looks weird!" Fai laughed, pointing at the black clad man.

"If I'm weird, then so are you!" Kurogane snapped.

"You do realize none of us exactly blend in," said Haine.

Chu'nyan studied the group carefully. "Are you… could you be?" she gasped. Grabbing a hold of Sakura's hand. "Come with me!"

They broke off into a sprint, with Syaoran close behind, pleading with Chu'nyan to slow down or wait. "Wonder where she's going," Fai thought out loud. He waved to the owner of the stand before hurrying off after the kids.

"I'm getting sick of this!" growled Kurogane.

"Just shut up, and run!" Haine snapped.

* * *

Chu'nyan took them to a very nice place. A fairly large house, that looked a bit big for someone who seemed to be living on their own. The girl studied Sakura and Syaoran closely, almost expecting one of them to say or do something.

Haine sat on her knees on the floor catching her breath. She wanted to take her hoodie off, she was warm, but her blasted arm! Haine wasn't ready to share this with these people. She wasn't fully sure if she could trust them or not. Maybe Sakura, but that's because the poor girl was still out of it.

Kurogane sat in the corner reading some sort of book he bought in Hanshin. And Fai crouched down in front of the window.

"Excuse me…" Syaoran said, still a bit confused by the events that played out. "What is this place…?"

"It's my house," Chu'nyan replied briskly.

"Why did you runs so fast?"

"Don't any of you have anything to say?"

"Like what?" Haine asked.

"We just arrived in this country," Syaoran explained. "And then we met you…"

Chu'nyan leaned forward to look Syaoran in the eye. "You really don't have anything to say?" she asked again. Another moment of silence passed before Chu'nyan slumped her shoulders. "Now that I think about it, there's no way a bunch of kids would be the Amen'osa."

"Amen'osa?" Sakura repeated, rubbing her eye.

The Amen'osa were spies who worked for the government. They investigated each region to see if the Ryanban were abusing their positions of power. "It's Mito Koumo!" Mokona exclaimed happily. "Yuko likes first generation of first generation Mito Koumon the best!"

Naturally, Haine had no idea what Mokona was talking about. The most she could think of was that he was talking about some sort of long-lasting show like Doctor Who, Power Rangers, or The Simpson's. Amazing how Second Age shows lasted centuries.

"I thought about it before," Chu'nyan said, staring at Mokona. "How can a meat bun talk?"

"Mokona is Mokona!" the white creature exclaimed. It launched right into Chu'nyan's face for emphasis, and knocked her over.

"Think of Mokona as our mascot," Fai suggested. "So you thought we were this Amen'osa, er…?"

"Chu'nyan," the girl properly introduced.

"I'm Fai," the blonde introduced. Fai gestured to each member of the group as he listed them off. "This is Syaoran, Sakura, Haine, and that's Kurgy."

"It's Kurogane!"

"So," Fai continued, ignoring Kurogane's outburst. "The ruler of this place is evil; therefore, the people here are waiting for the Amen'osa to help them?"

"The Ryanban," Chu'nyan said with utter loathing. "He's the worst… He… my mother…"

The windows, began to shutter. The whole house creak. "The wind?" Fai asked, rising to his feet.

"Don't go outside!" Chu'nyan shouted.

The wind tore through the house. Haine felt something tug at the back of her shirt, followed by her back meeting the wall. Kurogane pulled her back before she got full force of the wind. When it finally died down, it left a hole in the roof. Fai and Chu'nyan were the first ones on their feet. "That wasn't the normal wind, was it?" asked Fai.

"It's the Ryanban!" Chu'nyan snapped. Her whole body trembled. "That guy! He did this!"

* * *

Haine stared at the ceiling. Chu'nyan was kind enough to let them stay in her place during their stay. She shared a room with Sakura, who was asleep by the time her head hit the pillow, and Mokona. The guy's, and Chu'nyan, had their own rooms. It was a wonder someone her age lived alone, though she did mention her mother passed away.

She still wasn't quite sure how she felt about traveling anymore. Whether Haine wanted to go home or not, she didn't have a way to get home, so it didn't matter if she wanted to go home or not. Haine wasn't sure if she could trust her companions or not, which was probably why she was still a little scared.

Sighing, Haine decided there was no use in worrying. She closed her eyes, and allowed her thoughts to wander.

_Her dreams took her to a living room lit by a fireplace. She laid down on a couch with her head in a woman's lap. The woman leaned against a man's chest, it was difficult to make out both the man and woman's faces. _

_The woman ran her hand through Haine's hair, humming a calming lullaby as she did so. She was calm, and happy. With the woman massaging her scalp, the lullaby, and the warmth of fire, she could have fallen asleep._

_Her eyes closed, the woman continued with her lullaby. Bliss._

_When Haine opened her eyes again, fire consumed the room, pain consumed her. Fire caught onto the sleeve of her nightgown, burning her hand. The living room was set ablaze, the man and woman were gone. Haine was alone. She was afraid. She was in pain. "Mummy!" Haine screamed, waving her flaming hand around in a poor attempt to put it out. "Mummy! Daddy!"_

_The fire trailed up her arm. As Haine continued to fail her arm about, she failed to notice the sickening creak. The bookshelf behind her toppled over. It was headed, right for her._

Haine woke with a gasp, her heart pounding in her chest. It must have been morning by now. She sat up to find Sakura and Mokona had already left, so it must have been late in the morning. Shaking her head slightly, Haine slid her jeans and socks back on, followed by her hoodie.

Better go see what everyone else was doing.

* * *

"Why… do I… have… to fix… somebody's… house?!" Kurogane demanded in between hammering.

He sat on the roof after Fai volunteered him to fix it for Chu'nyan. The kids had gone out to town with Mokona. "Because Chu'nyan offered us shelter for the night," Fai replied. He passed up a plank of wood through the hole.

"Still," Kurogane said, looking out at the horizon. "It's amazing she lives alone in a house like this."

"She did mention her mother died," Fai said, glancing at the mirror in by the wall.

"Hey. How long are we gonna stay here?"

"That depends on Mokona."

"Why dose the meat bun always side with the brat?!"

"Because Mokona, Syaoran, and Sakura went outside to spy with Chu'nyan. Hope they get some good info."

"Is it okay? That princess is always eating or dizzy."

"She doesn't have enough," Fai explained. "We've only found two feathers. If she wants to get her full memory back, she'll need more. She doesn't have the thoughts for herself, that's why she came with us without asking. Still… even if Sakura has all the feathers returned, the memories she had of Syaoran won't return.

"Knowing that Syaoran will still look for them. He'll go to many different worlds to find them. Even though there are many challenges ahead," Fai continued. He lightened the mood with a smile. "At the very least, let's wait while repairing the house. Maybe they'll bring presents!"

"But…" Kurogane began, twitching. In a moment of anger, he threw the hammer at Fai. "Why are relaxing and drinking tea?!"

Sure enough, Fai sat on the floor with a tea pot, and a three teacups. "Well, I wanted to see Blacky working," beamed Fai. "In any case, I'm sure Haine'll be helping when she wakes up."

"She's hiding something."

"Hm?" Fai uttered as he passed the hammer back up.

"The girl," said Kurogane. "There's something about the left side of her body she's hiding. Why else would she be wearing that glove and long sleeves all the time?"

Fai noticed. When Yuko asked for payments, Haine balled up her gloved hand without thinking. The way she always wore it. And yesterday, after the made it to Chu'nyan's house, it was clear that she was uncomfortably warm, but didn't remove her thick shirt. It may not have been so much the left side of her body, just her arm.

"Whatever the reason is, I don't care," Kurogane continued. "She has her reasons for hiding it. It's none of our business."

He was right of course. Haine had her reasons, and it _was_ none of their business. But, whatever it was, it really didn't seem like a burden Haine should carry alone. "Did Chu'nyan, take Syaoran, Sakura, and Mokona out?" Haine asked, hurrying into the room. Sure enough her glove, and thick shirt was on.

"Yup, they left about an hour ago," Fai smiled.

"Ah… I'm gonna go out for a bit. I'll try not to be long."

She hurried out of the house before either man could say anything.

* * *

Haine knew she probably should have stuck around to help with the repairs, but her nightmare really had her shaken up. She needed a few moments to calm down. Being trapped in a fire was something of a reoccurring dream for her, but the man, woman, and the fireplace was new.

Haine pulled to a stop about a half mile from Chu'nyan's house, but still pretty isolated from the rest of the town. Sighing, Haine ran her hands through her hair. Assuming the reoccurring dream was a memory, Haine had reason to believe she accidentally started it. She may have been a mage, but starting small fires was all she was capable of. It came in handy when it came to keeping herself warm.

Without thinking, Haine snapped her fingers. She expected a small spark to appear in mid-air, then burn out into tiny embers. Instead, what Haine got was a large fireball. Startled, Haine jumped back, landing on the ground.

The grass caught fire, threatening to spread. Haine stamped it out as fast as she could. By some miracle, she managed to do it without injuring herself. As the smoke rose from the damaged greenery, Haine fell back again, taking a few deep breaths in.

What the heck was that?! It was always just a spark in the past. Only strong enough to light a candle! "It was a fluke…" Haine told herself. "Just… just a weird thing that happened…"

It was just a fluke. That was all.

* * *

**Authors Note: **If it helps at all, I kinda pictured the lullaby the woman was humming to be the same lullaby in _Pan's Labyrinth_. The one Mercedes hum's to Ofelia a few times throughout the movie, but the one that really stands out to me is as Ofelia's dying.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight  
****Behind a Pretty Face**

Haine was watching Fai and Kurogane play their chess-or-checkers-like game when Syaoran, Sakura, and Chu'nyan returned, it was pretty obvious that something happened while they were out. It looked Sakura and Syaoran were able to get a hold of more appropriate clothing for the country. But then they ran into trouble, the Ryanban's son was tormenting a family who was behind on their rather right taxes. So Syaoran and Chu'nyan tried to intervene. It didn't work as well as they had hoped.

"If this Ryanban's that bad, why don't you gather the people to revolt?" Kurogane asked, fiddling with one of the game's pieces.

"We tried to, lots of times!" Chu'nyan explained. "But you can't lay a finger on the Ryanban! The palace has secret spells no one can penetrate!"

"Was that what you felt, Mokona?" Haine asked the white creature.

"There's a lot of mysterious power," Mokona explained. "But I can't tell one from the other."

"How about the son?" Fai suggested cheerfully. "Take him hostage, or something."

"We want to make things _better_, not worse," Haine grumbled.

"No!" a disgruntled Chu'nyan argued. "The Ryanban uses a secret weapon to defend the palace, if we got to the son…"

Fai thought for a moment. "Yesterday and today, Syaoran attacks from the secret weapon. From my understanding, the Ryanban suddenly got a lot of power a year ago. Does it have to do with Sakura's feathers?"

"But it doesn't match," Kurogane pointed out. "The feathers of memory were scattered recently, right?"

"The dimensions are different. So maybe time passes differently, too."

"Not getting any of this," Haine grumbled.

"I'll go check," Syaoran stood up. "If the feather's at the Ryanban's-"

"Wait!" Sakura's hand clamped his sleeve. "Syaoran, you're hurt."

"I'm fine," he gave her a reassuring smile.

"But-"

"Don't worry. If the feather really is there, I'll get it for you."

Sakura's hands were balled up over her chest. She couldn't understand why Syaoran was going all out for her, he didn't owe her anything. They didn't know each other before all of this. So why would he do this for her?

Fai held his hand up, and stood up. "Wait a bit," he said. "Don't worry, I'm not going to stop you. But, the Ryanban's secret powers are pretty strong. So just going in won't work, you need to at least break the spell at the entrance."

"Can't you do anything?" asked Kurogane.

"Nope! Not at all!"

'_Then why'd you say anything like you had an idea?' _Haine couldn't help but think, irritably.

"Let's ask Yuko!" Mokona exclaimed.

"Oh, that's right," Haine said in awe. "Didn't she say the other one was for communication?"

The red gem on its head began to glow. A stream of light shot out, the image of the Space Time Witch appeared at the end. "Oh, Mokona," she said with a slight smile. "What is it?"

"She spoke!" Chu'nyan cried, clinging to Sakura. Both girl's looked pretty frightened by this, while Syaoran was dumbstruck.

Fai thought Mokona was pretty useful. But, Kurogane was quick to point out that useful had it's limits, too. Haine waved her hand in front of Mokona, distorting Yuko's image. It was almost like the holo-concerts she snuck into back in New London.

Syaoran explained the situation to Yuko. They needed a way to break into the palace, and retrieve Sakura's feather. "But you don't have to ask me," said Yuko. She glanced over at the resident magician. "Can't you use spells, Fai?"

"I gave you the core to my powers," the blonde explained.

"The tattoo I got was the 'core to keep in the powers.' Your powers, it's not it."

"Still. I have a rule not to use spells without it."

Haine bit the inside of her cheek. There was obvious that Fai was keeping something to himself. Maybe his magic was too unpredictable?

"Fine," said Yuko. "I'll send you something that can break the spell on the palace. But I must get something of value."

Syaoran was about to offer something, but Fai was already on the case. He offered to use his staff as payment. With his rule against using magic, he didn't have much use for it. Accepting it, Yuko instructed Fai to give it to Mokona. This time around, Haine joined Chu'nyan in her little freak out as Fai guided the staff into Mokona's mouth.

It coughed out a black ball, about the size of a glass paperweight. They had the power to break through the Ryanban's barrier. Now they just needed to get there.

* * *

They all stood outside Chu'nyan's house. Haine wasn't quite sure how, but she managed to get her, Fai, and Kurogane a change of clothes. Haine wore a light purple undershirt with long sleeves, and a high color. Her over shirt almost touched her ankles. It was purple, lined with magenta on the collar and sleeves, with a belt around her waist. She had on a pair of dull pink pants, her black boots, and, of course, her glove.

Chu'nyan argued with Syaoran, she wanted to go with them. Fai argued that it would be very dangerous, but Chu'nyan already knew that, and she was still willing to fight. Realizing he wasn't getting through to her, Fai, Haine, and Mokona glanced up at Kurogane, who immediately turned his head to the side. "I'm no good with kids," he said simply.

"Now, _that_ I can believe," Haine sighed.

"It's because Kurgy's the type to get easily embarrassed," Mokona chirped.

Chu'nyan grabbed Syaoran by the arms. She was close to tears at this point. She wanted to go with them, and avenge her mother. She _had_ to. But Syaoran pulled her out of his grip, then walked down the dirt path, instructing Chu'nyan to stay with Sakura.

The princess placed her hands on both of Chu'nyan's shoulders as Kurogane, Fai, and Haine followed Syaoran. "It's because I'm a child," Chu'nyan said through her tears. "And I can't use any powerful spells… am I in the way?"

"I don't think that's so," Sakura said kindly, wrapping her arms around the distressed girl.

Haine was just able to keep up with the guys. Why'd two of them had to have such long legs? Still, she couldn't help but think of Chu'nyan. She was so hell-bent on going with them. If she could finally get into the Ryanban's palace, then maybe his tyranny could end. But Syaoran… "That was cold," Haine murmured.

"I think it was because Syaoran didn't want to trouble Chu'nyan," Fai explained. "After all, she let us foreigners stay in her house, yet she can't come with us. If we can't defeat the Ryanban, how can we face her when we get back?"

Haine hadn't thought of that. If they couldn't defeat the Ryanban, even if Chu'nyan had come with them, how was she supposed to deal with this? It was possible that it might extinguish that spark inside her for good.

"All we have to do is defeat those Ryanban guys," Kurogane pointed out.

"And then," Fai said. "If the Ryanban really does have Sakura's feather…"

"I will get it back," Syaoran said with conviction.

It didn't take them too long to reach the palace. Haine crossed her arms over her chest as Kurogane tried to push the large double doors open. "You know, if they hadn't found a way to get through his spells, I highly doubt it'd be as simple as opening the damn door!" Haine commented.

But, the doors swung open, revealing the town for an aerial view, upside down. "I've been wrong before…" muttered Haine.

Syaoran took out the spell from Yuko, Mokona explained that they had to throw it, really hard. The boy tossed it into the air, as it came down, he brought his leg back, and kicked it to give it more momentum. It made contact with some kind of invisible dome surrounding the palace grounds, and shattered it.

They didn't waste any time to get into the castle, but they were greeted with an extremely long hallway. Haine lost track of just how long they were in there fore, but it was _definitely_ longer than necessary. "We're not getting anywhere," she whined.

"We just came back to the same spot," Syaoran said, picking up a black pebble from the floor. Haine recognized it from the game Kurogane and Fai were playing.

"But we were walking in a straight line," Fai pointed out.

"I dropped this at the entrance," Syaoran explained, showing him the pebble.

"Hyuu~ Syaoran's good!"

"You said 'hyuu,'" Kurogane said. "Why didn't you just whistle?"

"I don't know how!" Fai beamed.

"I'm sorry, but what does this have to do with anything?" Haine asked. "We've been walking in circle. The Ryanban's not making this easy."

"I'm dead tired," Mokona sighed.

Angry, Kurogane grabbed Mokona off Fai's shoulders and began tugging at it's face. It was never walking, it always rode on someone shoulders, so what right did it have to complain?

Fai placed his hand gingerly on the wall. "It's here," he whispered.

Syaoran asked if he found anything. Magic was at it's strongest there, and may very well be where the Ryanban was. Wasn't Fai unable to use magic? He said it was just intuition, whatever that was supposed to mean.

Kurogane, definitely being the brawn of the group successfully punched through the wall. Through the dust and rubble, a white canopy could be seen, with fluffy cushions at the base. Seated on the cushions was a rather unearthly woman. "You have finally arrived, you nameless wanderers," she smiled.

"Who are you?" Kurogane demanded.

"After a hundred years of history," the Kiishimu began. "Humans are so similar to insects. Be careful how you use that mouth. That is what I would like to say but… It's been a long time since I've had guests, so I'll tolerate it."

"Just spit out where the Ryanban is."

"You're so impatient, Kurgs," smiled Fai.

The Kiishimu smiled, and chuckled, "What really cute children."

"She praised us!" Fai beamed.

"She said we were little kids!" Kurogane snapped.

Haine's eyes rolled to the upper left. Was this really the time to be arguing about this?

Syaoran spoke up, explaining to the Kiishimu that the Ryanban had something he was searching for. It would help them, if she could tell them where he was. But, to the Kiishimu, Syaoran had really pleasant eyes.

However, she couldn't answer their question, nor could she allow them to leave. Not without going through her, first. The room suddenly changed. Haine found herself standing on a tall stone pillar above a lake. The Kiishimu's canopy was changed into an oriental gazebo. "An illusion?" Kurogane asked, unimpressed by the sudden change.

"No," the Kiishimu spat. "That is the Ryanban's arts. _My_ arts are much more than that. They're not just pretty."

The Kiishimu flicked her finger, and a droplet appeared. The droplet whizzed at Syaoran, who shielded his face with is left arm. As soon as the water hit his arm, the fabric of his sleeve started melting off. The water was like acid.

"Because my secret arts inflects real pain," the Kiishimu finished.

"So, if we get badly hurt…" Fai's voice trailed off.

"We're dead," Haine finished dully.

"Correct," the Kiishimu raised both hands above her head.

More acid water droplets appeared, and the group moved to evade them. Haine personally thought she was doing much better than she expected. That's to say, she expected to fall. But, she was able to make the jumps from pillar to pillar pretty easily, so long as she knew she could successfully make the jump.

There was a cry of pain from Syaoran. The pillar he landed on disappeared, and his right leg went into the lake. His pant leg was disintegrating, his foot, up to his calf was badly burnt. "The lake water and water droplets have the same destructive power," the Kiishimu explained. "But, don't you see that everything inside this temple is real?"

Haine wanted to strangle the Kiishimu. Like it wasn't hard enough with water that could burn you. Fall into the lake, you're pretty much burned to death. They couldn't fight like this.

From the looks of it, Fai had a similar thought. He leapt onto a lamppost, and asked Kurogane to break it for him. They couldn't keep this up unarmed. The black clad man yelled at Fai to do it himself, but broke it into pieces anyway. "Haine!" Fai called, tossing a pole to her. "This way, you don't have to touch the drops of water. Just hit them away."

"And if the water eats away at them?" Haine asked. She didn't get an answer.

Leaping onto another pillar, Haine thrust the end of her pole into a couple of droplets. They couldn't keep this up forever, if the Ryanban really did have Sakura's feather, and Haine didn't doubt it, they needed to keep moving.

Fai encouraged Syaoran and Mokona to get a head start. Syaoran might not last longer with his injury, and he had more important things to do. The magician pointed out that the magic was at its weakest at the pinnacle of the temple, Syaoran should be able to kick his way out, with a bit of help. "I don't know what you're talking about," the Kiishimu said. "Don't let me get too bored, little children."

"We'll be done soon!" Fai called.

Syaoran leapt up, and grabbed onto Kurogane's pole. The ninja threw Syaoran and Mokona up with great strength. The boy kicked through, and successfully left the room. "Hyuu ~ You two are so cool!" Fai praised.

"I told you to stop that!" Kurogane roared.

"We have more important things to worry about than how a person whistles!" Haine snapped.

"One person got away…" the Kiishimu mused. "How disappointing. Couldn't be helped. Then I'll just have to teach the remaining children a lesson."

The water droplets started gathered to gather overhead, then the acid water started to rain over them. "Looks like this is getting to be a pretty serious crisis," Fai said.

Haine glanced down at her arm. Her glove, and sleeve were starting to be eaten away, revealing her metal arm. "Yup…"

* * *

**Authors Note:** You know, I'm _just_ realizing how dialogue heavy the manga is.


End file.
